Blaming The Bats 63
d'alz writes "Bats have long been the subject of various conflicting theories. They have been linked with lethal viruses that cause Ebola hemorrhagic fever, SARS, Nipah or Hendra.
But of late researchers have taken a complete shift in these theories. They now claim that bats are being blamed for human mistakes. It now seems that these outbreaks could be a direct result of the encroachments that took place over the years in the rainforests." From the article: "Emerging viruses like the one that causes SARS are symptoms of the drastic, large-scale changes humans are making in the life of the planet. At a time of intense concern about avian flu, it is hardly controversial to argue that human health is linked to animal health. But the field challenges traditional academic divisions, especially the cultural divide between doctors and veterinarians."
It's not the people, it's the cows!?!!1111 (Score:5, Interesting)
I've personally been attacked by a rabid bat.. (Score:3, Interesting)
This was in Africa where normally bats will leave you alone and will fly away if they see people. This one looked a bit strange and when I walked past it dropped down onto me. Luckily for me it didn't bite and I managed to flip it off. The bat was obviously feverish and had the right symptoms.
If I had a language background instead (Score:2)
Re:I've personally been attacked by a rabid bat.. (Score:2)
You'd never flip off someone cause they had cancer, hypocrite.
Cause of mistakes? (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Cause of mistakes? (Score:1)
Bats = Good (Score:1, Funny)
Re:Bats = Good (Score:1)
Re:Bats = Good (Score:1)
Re:Bats = Good (Score:1)
Re:Them bats is smart (Score:1)
Of course we're the problem (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Of course we're the problem (Score:1)
Re:Of course we're the problem (Score:2)
we have dominated thousands of species, yes
but we have saved hundreds from extinction.
You imagine the threat of unknown invaders, or alien pestilence borne on the solar wind.
We have seen these. But you do not acknowledge your own worst enemy, yourselves.
We have found dead worlds without number, planets ravaged by atomic fire or gaian collapse.
These planets were not rendered sterile by outside forces.
They bear sad testament to the effects of unres
Re:Of course we're the problem (Score:2)
Re:Of course we're the problem (Score:2)
The effects were pretty cool, though.
Re:Of course we're the problem (Score:2)
Like hell they do. Every mammal on the planet (hell every animal on the planet) grows as fast as it can until natural factors prevent them from expanding any further. Some grow slowly level off as they hit their limit, others grow fast and zoom right past their limits, before undergoing a massive population drop (I want to call these r-type and k-type growth, but its been some time since biology an
Sounds like Gaia theory again... (Score:1)
I didn't RTFA so somebody read it and tell me if I'm right.
Who to blame: humans or bats ?! (Score:5, Funny)
say it ain't so! (Score:1)
Great... (Score:5, Insightful)
If humans kill animals, it is the humans' fault. If animals kill humans, it is the humans' fault.
Yep - that pretty much sums it up.
Re:Great... (Score:3, Interesting)
Hypothetically at least, humans have the ability to reason and to distinguish between "good" acts and "bad" acts. Animals don't. Therefore while animals are essentially assigned the status of the criminally insane or children (not compentant to be judged for their actions) humans are assumed to be compentant. Therefore, yes, if a human kills animals, it's the humans fault, because the human made the choice to do so; if an animal kills a human, its the human's fault, because
Re:Great... (Score:2)
Re:Great... (Score:2)
Of course! I always knew that somehow the government was controlling earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis, and meteors!
Re:Great... (Score:2)
Re:Great... (Score:2)
Re:Great... (Score:2)
Animal contact with humans not animal health (Score:2, Informative)
Your call (Score:2)
The cultural divide between doctors and veterinarians.
I'm sorry. You have reached a number that is no longer in service. Message 002.
I suspect the cultural divide between doctors and veterinarians can wait till Monday.
"Bats aren't bugs!" (Score:1)
Holy Jesus. What are these goddamn animals? (Score:1)
Bats. Seriously? (Score:3, Insightful)
Bats?
What the hell? When did this theory start getting serious recognition anyway? I feel like I did 5 or 6 years ago when seemingly out of no where everyone was talking about the theory of the extinction of dinosaurs being caused by an asteroid impact as being more or less fact. When I was in middle school and high school there were a number of theories discussed and no one was given considerably more or less weight than the others. There was the asteroid theory, of course. There was also a climate change theory, a disease theory, a species encroachment theory and probably a couple others I'm not remembering. Then seemingly a few years later I'm reading a web site or a news report or watching TV or something and the death of dinosaurs is attributed to that asteroid, as if it were written on stone and handed down from on high.
I know now that there was the discovery and research of the yuccatan crater, but still it was very disconcerting that something so fundamental in the "modern" history of the planet had gone from multi-theory to essentially a single theory and I hadn't heard anything about it until some time after the fact. Must have missed that all important week the world was abuzz with the massive shift in dinosaur extinction thought.
So anyway...
Bats.
Really? That's just seems loopy. Of course, encroachment on African, Asian, or Central/South American jungles isn't that good of an explanation for SARS or Bird Flu either, but at least it aint bats. Seriously, bats? Who comes up with this stuff?
Re:Bats. Seriously? (Score:2)
Luis and Walter Alvarez proposed the asteroid-impact theory in 1980, not as speculation, but because of the global evidence of iridium enrichment at the K-T boundary. This was reinforced by the discovery of the Chicxulub crater in 1990. To me, that's somewhat more than 5-6 years ago, but you might be using a different calendar... Or a chronosynclastic infundibulum as a proxy server.
And look! Here's a report sugges [sciencenews.org]
Re:Bats. Seriously? (Score:2)
Many animal species harbor viruses that are deadly to other animals, but apparently have few or no effects on them. Hantavirus in rodents is an example.
So -- the animal population is sitting there using the available resources in an area, and another population tries to move in. If alien species is immunologically naive, the native species
many infectious diseases due to human activity (Score:2)
Go pick on your own species ;-( (Score:1)
Bats (Score:2)
I4d say it's possible (Score:2)
The birds... (Score:1)
Bats Information. (Score:4, Informative)
http://www.batcon.org/home/default.asp [batcon.org]
Re:Bats Information. (Score:1)
Eliminate bats, there will be an increase in the mosquito population, thereby increasing the chance of blood-born diseases.
Typical human thinking is to blame nature for man's stupidity.
It's not nice to F**K with MA Nature, she's a real B**ch to placate.
Just to clarify, it's not that humans are to blame (Score:1)
Nothing new (Score:1, Troll)