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We will clarify two things.
One: Until now, there is no evidence that bats carry SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. Because, “the current pandemic virus, SARS-CoV-2 has not been identified in any species of bat, to date.”
Two: Of the thousands of bat species worldwide, only one, the intermediate horseshoe bat, is related to COVID-19, which also indirectly. And the chances of you finding a horseshoe bat in your urban or rural home are extremely slim, as these bats don’t venture near human habitation.
According to scientists, the journey of this bat virus to humans was complicated, with genetic deviations and the possible interaction of other creatures in between. A journey that they are still trying to trace. “We do not know the natural host of the virus. Therefore, it is unlikely at this time that bats pose a threat to humans from SARS-CoV-2. “
Both statements quoted above are from Aaron Irving, principal investigator working on bat disease at the DUKE-NUS School of Medicine in Singapore. He adds, by email, “The intermediate horseshoe bat is linked to a bat CoV (coronavirus) called RaTG13 which is 96.2% the same as SARS-CoV-2. There is a certain genetic distance between this virus and SARS-CoV-2, so even then this bat species is not directly related to COVID-19 (but is more closely linked than other bat species). ”
Aaron is not the only one who constantly has to defend bats since the pandemic began. “I definitely have a bat right now, in my own house, hiding somewhere in a pipe or a crack in a wall,” says Rohit Chakravarty, without looking worried. The chiropterologist, who is pursuing his doctorate at the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, Berlin, has been passing the COVID-19 lockdown in his hometown of Nagpur, making similar statements in defense of bats on podcasts. , phone and email interviews. Like Aaron and Rohit, conservationists and chiropterologists across the continent and beyond are forced to fight an avalanche of fear and disinformation.
Like elves in the night
- Bats such as the short-nosed fruit bat and Leschenault’s rousette do not feed on or harm the mahua (iluppai tree).
- In fact, they pollinate their flowers and disperse their seeds.
- The opaque colored flowers bloom at night and emit a strong aroma, they seem to be prepared to attract nocturnal creatures such as bats.
Rohit says: “There are 1,400 species of bats worldwide and 128 in India. The most common that people see in India are the great common Indian flying fox, the short-nosed fruit bat (half the size of the flying fox), and pipistrelles, which are very small five to six gram bats. In fact, my brother’s dog found a pipistrelle in our house the other day. “
Most of these bats feed on fruit, while the pipistrelle eats flies, mosquitoes, and moths. “So we have nothing to fear from any of these,” he reiterates, though he suggests that people avoid bat colonies because of the possibility of fungal infections “just as they would do with pigeon feces or the droppings of other animals. “
Integral to nature
Chiropterologists are used to ending urban legends and bat prejudice, but the rise amid the COVID-19 outbreak has been so strong that they felt the need for direct action. In April, as many as 64 conservationists, chiroprologists, and even transdisciplinary health sciences experts from across South Asia made a joint statement expressly stating that, among other things, “The exact origin of SARS-CoV-2 or its precursor is not known. It is premature and unfair to blame bats or any other animal for the pandemic. “
The statement came after a study by the Indian Council of Medical Research found cases of bat coronavirus in two species of Indian bats. The detailed report indicated that this BtCoV is very distantly related to SARS-CoV-2. But, as expected, there was a hasty reading and a lot of panic. Furthermore, “less than 5% of the samples analyzed contained this BtCoV,” says the statement by scientists and conservationists in South Asia.
Lots of noise, for a reason
If you’re wondering why you should care, it’s because many aspects of our environment, from rice plantations to mangroves and even the mahua tree, depend on bats. They are pollinators, seed dispersers, and pest controllers that do a lot for the spaces we inhabit, but unfortunately most of us don’t know.
Sights and sounds
- Bats are not blind, they just prefer echolocation in sight because it is easier and faster in the dark.
- Echolocation is the process of using ultrasound and its echoes (rather than light rays) to measure where objects are placed and how big they are.
- Bats use it to navigate their routes, find food like insects, and even objects as fine as human hair.
In fact, most of us hardly noticed bats before this closing, when we spent more time on our terraces and balconies, looking at the night skies. But lately, suddenly, bats seem to be everywhere. “I wouldn’t say that the number of bats has increased at all; I think people are noticing them more because of the blockade. When people claim they’ve never seen bats in their homes before, that can’t be true. Bats are everywhere. In fact, this is the time when the population of bats like the flying fox, the large fruit bats seen on trees, actually falls, because they are very susceptible to dehydration. In summer, when temperatures they cross 44 or 43 degrees Celsius, they start to disappear. They can’t stand the heat, “explains Rohit.
And no, despite all the urban myths you’ve heard, they won’t scratch your eyes or tangle in your hair.
“Most of the urban population takes time to cross the barrier of superstition to science,” says Rohit, adding: “The people of Northeast India and the Andaman tribes are extremely aware of bats.” They don’t know the scientific names of the species, but they do know a lot about the natural history of bats. For example, my field assistant Saw Isaac, when I was in Andaman in late 2013, knew exactly where to look for bats. Every time we walked through the forest, he would look at the holes in the trees and look for incisions in bamboo, where the bats perch. ”
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