6/29/2023 0 Comments Contagious book amazonAnd because of the vast size of the Amazon rainforest, and rapid human encroachment into its little-known habitats, some scientists see Brazil as a likely cradle of a future pandemic. For reasons including their sheer number and diversity, the animals are a significant reservoir of pathogens that can sicken people. Some of the most devastating viruses that have infected humans over the past century have emerged from bats. He recently won a second grant, totaling just over $21,000, to continue his research. "We don't know anything," said Vieira, whose shoestring budget for his "least known species" project totaled about $3,000. And with limited funding available to researchers, scientists don't expect to unravel the Amazon's mysteries anytime soon. Beyond Planaltina, one of the better-known caves in the Amazon, countless other habitats – and bat species native to them – remain completely unstudied or undiscovered. In the depths of the world's largest rainforest, what science knows about wildlife is as limited as the jungle is vast. "I've never caught one of these here before," the scientist said, untangling the animal gently from a net he'd spread across the cave's mouth. Vieira trained his headlamp on a bat with a long, sharp nose. Just how big a chore he faces was easy to see during a July 2021 foray to the giant Planaltina cavern, where he sought to catch samples of the many species believed to be living there.
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