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A mother fruit bat with her nursing pup. These fruit bats (Rousettus madagascariensis) from Ankarana in northern Madagascar are from a species that carries a form of coronavirus. The researchers have been studying the population dynamics of this species superimposed on different zoonotic diseases for seven years. Credit: Olivà S. Noroalintseheno Lalarivoniaina
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Bats do a lot of good for the world—they pollinate plants, they eat disease-carrying insects, and they help disperse seeds that help with the regeneration of tropical forest trees. Bats and a range of other mammal groups are also natural carriers of coronaviruses. To better understand this very diverse family of viruses, which includes the specific coronavirus behind COVID-19, scientists compared the different kinds of coronaviruses living in 36 bat species from the western Indian Ocean and nearby areas of Africa.

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