It's almost certainly a coincidence. Bats don't have an inflammatory response to viral infections like other mammals [1] so viruses are basically harmless to th

It's almost certainly a coincidence. Bats don't have an inflammatory response to viral infections like other mammals [1] so viruses are basically harmless to them and they are perfect carriers, with many species having life expectancies reaching 2-3 decades. Studies of regional populations of bats have found that if a virus makes it into a bat population, it will usually spread to 50-90% of the total population (where virus = rabies and region = Western Europe) [2]. This Wuhan virus evolving from another SARS-like virus while maintaining surface markers is squarely in the realm of possibility. [1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6410205/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6410205/ [2] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1539106/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1539106/