Nipah, Hendra, Ebola, SARS... These are some of the world's scariest viruses, which are all carried by bats. This, to be clear, rally isn't bats' fault: The recent 1 . in outbreaks is likely due to humans and our animals 2 ever farther bats' habitat.
In Malaysia, for example, the spread of commercial pig farms into bat-inhabited forests 3 the first human outbreak of Nipah via pigs. In Australia, human Hendra cases 4 as the destruction of native forests forced fruit bats to feed in suburban 5.
One big reason is that most bats love 6 , which contributes to viruses spreading not just among individuals, but also among 7 species. What's more, most infected 8 don't die—they live normal bat lives, flying around and giving viruses the 9 to spread. Research suggests flight 10be the reason bats are so resilient (迅速恢复的) to infection.
As a rule, when flying animals produce the 11amount of energy needed for flight, they also make a lot of reactive waste products that 12 their DNA. But when bats take to the air, they 13 their in-flight DNA damage repair ability and other defenses, including 14 cells that keep viral invaders in check.
So bats can 15 deadly viruses. But what may matter even more to humans is 16 viruses survive bats. When bats are flying, their body temperature can reach around 40℃. It's far too hot for the 17 viruses, but a few hardy viruses have 18 to tolerate the heat. This means they can definitely pull through a human 19when they are transmitted to humans, which is horrible to us.
So what should we do? We'd better just leave bats 20.
