ReadingAnimals

A new feature over at Discovery News reports: Next human plague likely to come from wildlife.

Noting that disease from HIV to SARS have animal vectors, scientists also predict that emerging disease risks are greatest for disease that pass from other animals to humans, i.e. “zoonoses.”

“We are crowding wildlife into ever-smaller areas, and human population is increasing,” said co-author Marc Levy of the Center for International Earth Science Information Network, affiliated to Columbia University’s Earth Institute in New York. “Where those two things meet, that is a recipe for something crossing over.”

Too bad the article features a photo of the much maligned bat, who already struggles with a bad reputation.