Huabin Zhao Department of Ecology, Hubei Key Laboratory of Cell Homeostasis, College of Life Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan, Hubei 430072, China.
Letter to the editor Science Magazine 27Mar2020
In China, bats are traditionally symbols of good luck and happiness (1). There are more than 1400 species of bats worldwide, but more than half of them have unknown or decreasing population trends (2). Unfortunately, the suggestion that coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) may have originated in bats (3) is putting them at increased risk. As COVID-19 has spread, people in China have started requesting that hibernating bats in or near their houses be expelled (4, 5). Disturbing hibernating bats causes abnormal arousal patterns (6), which could lead to high bat mortality and potentially to the spread of other viruses. Moreover, the captured bats are being released into the wild, which is not their native habitat (4), posing further threats to their survival. These decisions are not based in fact; COVID-19 was linked to horseshoe bats (3), which do not hibernate in cities in China (7). The reputation of bats as virus carriers has even led to extreme suggestions of mass slaughter to protect public health (8). The exaggeration of bats’ negative traits without regard for their positive ones could ultimately lead to their needless and intentional elimination. Bats serve many critical roles for the ecosystem. They are biological—and economical—pesticides (9), and they contribute to the pollination and seed dispersal for many important plants (10). They are also excellent subjects for studies on healthy aging, cancer prevention, disease defense, biomimetic engineering, ecosystem functioning, and adaptive evolution (11). The need for public education about bats, including their positive and negative impacts, is urgent and vital to their conservation.
Huabin Zhao Department of Ecology, Hubei Key Laboratory of Cell Homeostasis, College of Life Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan, Hubei 430072, China. Email: huabinzhao@whu.edu.cn
REFERENCES AND NOTES 1. V. Sung, Five-Fold Happiness: Chinese Concepts of Luck, Prosperity, Longevity, Happiness, and Wealth (Chronicle Books, 2002). 2. W. F. Frick, T, Kingston, J. Flanders, Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci. 10.1111/nyas.14045 (2019). 3. P. Zhou et al., Nature 579, 270 (2020). 4. “Beijing residents call police to remove bats from their houses” (2020); https://wxn.qq.com/ cmsid/20200211A06BJG00 [in Chinese]. 5. “Shanghai residents call Wildlife Conservation Department to expel bats around their houses” (2020); https://sh.qq. com/a/20200208/014581.htm [in Chinese]. 6. J. R. Speakman et al., J. Appl. Ecol. 28, 1087 (1991). 7. N. M. Furey, P. A. Racey, in Bats in the Anthropocene: Conservation of Bats in a Changing World, C. Voigt, T. Kingston, Eds. (Springer, Cham, 2016). 8. “Ecological killing is under heated debate—revision of wildlife protection law must involve experts from all related fields” (2020); https://xw.qq.com/ cmsid/20200214A0JB1X00 [in Chinese]. 9. J. G. Boyles et al., Science 332, 41 (2011). 10. T. H. Kunz et al., Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci. 1223, 1 (2011). 11. E.C. Teeling et al., Annu. Rev. Anim. Biosci. 6, 23 (2018).
10.1126/science.abb3088