Page 197 - Flock News Today

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For many of us, when we think of bats, we think of one thing. rabies. the threat of that virus is often misunderstood. >> its not very common for americans to get rabies. >> dylan george is a former white house adviser for biological threat defense. >> in any given year theres anywhere from zero to one to two people might get infected from rabies in bats or potentially from foxes or raccoons or skunks. >> rabies has actually been around for 2,000 years. for most of that time if you got it it was...

The bronx zoo ogling these often feared and reviled creatures. >> the stigma attached to bats was just horrible and i just felt like the animals that i was seeing in person was not matching the description that people were giving me. around the world bats are a sign of good luck, fertility, growth, everything you can think of. bats are usually the opposite of what theyre considered here in america. >> as an adult, the batman became the showman as the lead singer of the 80s glam metal band rocks....

>> but pest control isnt bats only contribution to the ecosystem. the droppings of fruit-eating bats, particularly in rainforests, help disperse seeds and regenerate trees and plants previously cut down. and thats not the only benefit. >> bat droppings are full of nitrogen so theyre really good for crops and there are all kinds of stories about these caves in the united states being harvested for fertilizer and then for explosive for the civil war. >> there are also bats that serve as the only p...

Bats are actually quite fascinating animals. the more you get to know them, the more fascinating they are. the more social creatures you see them become. and some of them are actually really beautiful. but bats do carry the viruses they carry and unfortunately, right now, it is very strange, weve probably got a bat virus thats killing people. ♪ ♪ good evening. im anderson cooper. when covid-19 first surfaced at the end of 2019, scientists around the world wanted to know where it came from ...

They combat aging because they tend to live longer than other mammals their size. research in bats is also helping the fight against cancer. scientists are trying to understand why bats dont develop tumors like other mammals. and now the possibility they could help us fight current and future coronaviruses. >> people are working on vaccines, theyre working on drugs. thats what were looking for. and i see it as an opportunity. >> many people are surprised by the physiological similarities between...

>> when the wing is around the face like that, theyre using their wings as built-in blanket. >> dangeli is part of a larger movement thats been taking place for the last three decades in the united states, teaching people why these creatures should be protected, not feared. >> were all here for one purpose and for one target, one direction. and thats to help these animals and to help people understand why these animals need our assistan assistance. theyre so much like us. they are different-look...

Bats have? >> yes. theyre a really critical, key component. for instance, insect-eating bats, because they consume so many insects, they play a large role in controlling insect populations. >> a normal size bat can eat up to 500 to 1,000 mosquitos in an hour. mosquitos that might be carrying diseases like zika, dengue or malaria. if youre in an area where there are a lot of mosquitoes and you see bats at night, you should be thankful for those bats. >> absolutely. >> and all that insect eating t...

>> some bat species actually migrate thousands of miles, and hence the viruses that they carry traffic along those migratory routes. >> and though some of the pathogens bats play host to can make them sick, like rabies, they also have the unique ability to host and withstand some viruses without getting sick. >> understanding how bats co-exist with diseases is very critical. bats have a very unique relationship with pathogens generally. they have a unique biology and it allows them to co-exist w...

Every year we as a species encroach deeper and deeper into bat habitat and those of other wild creatures, exposing ourselves to new and dangerous viruses. with the dramatic increase in travel, rise in global trade, were now capable of spreading those viruses far and wide. scientists warn that what weve created is the perfect storm for