Bats. A Medical Aide for Humans?

[longknife]

The Bat: A Long-lived, Virus-Proof Anomaly
By Breanna Draxler | January 1, 2013

The Australian black flying-fox (Pteropus alecto) was one of the bat species whose genome was sequenced in the study.

Bats are pretty impressive critters. They are notorious for carrying viruses like Ebola and SARS, but somehow avoid getting these diseases themselves. They are the only mammal that can fly, and they live far longer than other mammals their size. What’s their secret? Researchers in Australia sequenced two different bat genomes and found that these unique bat characteristics are not only genetically linked, but may help in the treatment of human diseases.

Read more @ The Bat: A Long-lived, Virus-Proof Anomaly : 80beats

 

[boedicca]

Under Obamacare, we'll be back to leeches before long.

 

[alan1]

Big eared Townsend bat

Golden crowned fruit bat

American Dingbat

Batboy knows bats.

 

[April]

I ♥ bats! Awesome creatures...

Bumblebee bats...the worlds smallest bat.

 

[waltky]

Bats' Upside-Down Flight Landings caught on camera...

Study Reveals Secrets Behind Bats' Upside-Down Flight Landings
November 19, 2015 | WASHINGTON — It is an aerial maneuver far beyond the capabilities of even the most sophisticated modern aircraft: landing upside down on a ceiling. But it is routine business for bats, and now scientists have learned precisely how they do it.

Researchers using high-speed cameras to observe bats in a special flight enclosure said on Monday these flying mammals exploit the extra mass of their wings, which are heavy for their body size compared to those of birds and insects, in order to perform the upside-down landing. They land that way in order to roost, as bats do, upside down on cave ceilings or under tree limbs. Brown University scientists observed two species: Seba's short-tailed bat and the lesser dog-faced fruit bat. They tracked their motions using three synchronized high-speed video cameras taking images at 1,000 frames per second, and studied weight distribution in the bats' body and wings.

The Angolan Free-tailed bat is found across much of sub-Saharan Africa.​

They found that by flapping both wings while folding one of them just a bit toward their body, a bat can shift its center of mass to perform a midair flip in order to alight on a ceiling. "Flying animals all maneuver constantly as they negotiate a three-dimensional environment," Brown biology and engineering professor Sharon Swartz said. "Bats employ this specific maneuver every time they land, because for a bat, landing requires reorienting from head forward, back up, belly down, to head down, toes up."

A series of photos showing a bat flying into an upside-down roosting position​

When approaching their touchdown spot, bats are not flying very quickly, making it difficult to muster the type of aerodynamic forces generated by pushing against the air that could help position them for an upside-down landing. But their heavy wings enable them instead to generate inertial forces to reorient themselves in midair. "This is similar to the way in which divers twist and turn during a high dive," said Kenny Breuer, a Brown professor of engineering, ecology and evolutionary biology.

Swartz said bats are generally under-appreciated as skilled aviators because they are primarily nocturnal. "People have many opportunities to observe birds and insects flying, but the bat world is hidden in the night. The more we observe flight behavior in bats, the more we are impressed," Swartz said. The research was published in the journal PLOS Biology.

Study Reveals Secrets Behind Bats' Upside-Down Flight Landings

 

[waltky]

Spooky lookin' lil' critters, ain't dey?...

West Africa at Highest Risk of Bat-to-Human Virus Spread, Study Finds
January 05, 2016 — Sub-Saharan Africa and South East Asia are most at risk from bat viruses jumping to humans and causing new diseases that could lead to deadly outbreaks, scientists warned Tuesday.

Approximately 60 to 75 percent of emerging infectious diseases are so-called "zoonotic events" — where animal diseases jump into people — and bats in particular are known to carry many zoonotic viruses. The tiny animals are the suspected origin of rabies, Ebola, SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) and possibly MERS (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome), and could cause other as-yet-unknown epidemics in the future. Scientists at University College London, the Zoological Society of London and Edinburgh University looked to map out the highest-risk areas by using a variety of factors including large numbers of bat viruses found locally, increasing population pressure, and hunting bats for bushmeat.

Bats are known to carry many zoonotic viruses, which jump from animals to people.​

West Africa leads

Kate Jones, UCL's chair of ecology and biodiversity, said her team first created risk maps for each variable and found, for example, that in mapping for potential human-bat contact, sub-Saharan Africa was a hotspot, while for diversity of bat viruses, South America was at most risk. "By combining the separate maps, we've created the first global picture of the overall risks of bat viruses infecting humans in different regions," she said. The work was published in journal The American Naturalist. The research, using data published between 1900 and 2013, found that West Africa — the epicentre of the recent Ebola outbreak — is at highest risk for zoonotic bat viruses.

A vendor sells bats and other bushmeat in market outside Yaounde, Cameroon.​

The wider sub-Saharan Africa region, as well as South East Asia, were also found to be hotspots. Liam Brierley, a PhD student at Edinburgh University who worked with Jones, said the risk of bat-to-human virus transmission is being driven higher by large and increasing populations of people and livestock expanding into wild areas such as forests. "People in these areas may also hunt bats for bushmeat, unaware of the risks of transmissible diseases which can occur through touching body fluids and raw meat of bats," he said.

West Africa at Highest Risk of Bat-to-Human Virus Spread, Study Finds