Bats are awesome and do so many useful things for the environment -- BUT that is all for part 2! Part 1 is about bats as disease reservoirs -- something they seem to do very well. We talk about what diseases bats are typically reservoirs for and what particular bat immune system characteristics might enable them to be so good at harboring viruses.
This episode has some COVID-19 talk, so if you're burned out on that either skip the first 12 min or skip the whole episode!
Also! Bats are truly awesome. Please don't listen to this episode and come away from it with the thought of "we should get rid of bats". They aren't just important, they're wonderful! Also, a (very) recent study suggests bats don't have any more viruses (that infect humans) per species than other orders of mammals or birds. Lots of nuance in that study, but the main point is, be kind to bats!!
Featuring a promo for CastJunkie! (@castjunkie on twitter, castjunkie.com)
References:

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-chinas-bat-woman-hunted-down-viruses-from-sars-to-the-new-coronavirus1/
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