Bats🦇

Bats do appear to carry more human-killing diseases than pretty much any other animal. One big reason is that, with a few notable exceptions, bats love company. Different kinds of bats often roost together in huge numbers and close quarters, which helps viruses spread not just between individuals, but also between species. What’s more, most infected bats don’t die - they live pretty normal bat lives, flapping around and giving the viruses time to spread. In fact, flight may be the reason bats are so resilient to infection. So when our bat cousins took to the air, they leveled up their in-flight DNA damage repair kits and other defenses, including specialized cells that keep viral invaders in check. 相较于几乎任何其他的动物，蝙蝠身上的确携带了更多的致人死亡的疾病。一个很重要的原因是，除了个别明显的例外情况，蝙蝠喜欢群居。 不同种类的蝙蝠经常会一起栖息在拥挤的空间里，而且数量惊人。这就加速了病毒的传播，不仅仅是个体之间的传播，还有物种之间。 除此之外，大多数受感染的蝙蝠不会死亡，它们依旧过着正常的蝙蝠生活，扇动翅膀四处飞窜，让病毒有时间传播起来。事实上，飞行可能是蝙蝠对病毒感染有如此强大适应力的原因。 于是，当我们的蝙蝠亲戚飞到空中，它们升级了飞行中的DNA损伤修复机制和其他防御机制，包括抑制病毒入侵的特定细胞。