Much maligned elsewhere, bats get star treatment in central France

At a museum in central France, researchers tenderly feed insects and kitten milk formula to tiny orphaned bats -- creatures widely reviled for their role in human disease outbreaks, most recently COVID-19.

"People are scared of illnesses," said museum director Laurent Arthur, who has spent years studying and saving bats.Arthur and his team of specialists have identified over 1,500 bat colonies in the larger Bourges area, and keep meticulous tabs on their movements and wellbeing. High oxygen levels can damage DNA, so bats have evolved a gene repair toolkit credited with boosting its immune response, he added.According to the UN Environment Programme , 60 percent of human infectious diseases originate from animals, including bats.

At the Bourges museum, they are working on ways to reduce the human impact on bats, for instance with a new type of insect trap that spares the bats who feed on them. Researcher Aurelie Chretien patiently feeds tiny pipistrelle bats that weigh only a few grams each, using marker pens filled with kitten milk formula.

With 30 years of dedicated bat study, the Bourges museum has become a go-to for scientific advice on the impact of large industrial projects, such as wind farms -- which can be harmful for bats.

Source: Healthcare Press (healthcarepress.net)

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