2 ms·
> There is significant concern that the mere act of having researchers wade around in bat caves looking for coronaviruses is a bad idea. Bat guano collection f
by lamontcg 4y ago
> There is significant concern that the mere act of having researchers wade around in bat caves looking for coronaviruses is a bad idea.
Bat guano collection for farming along with mining activity probably has a hundred thousand times more human to bat contact than research does. It isn't like nobody in China is coming into contact with these bats other than the scientists.
Also in Hubei's Enshi prefecture there is the Tenglong cave which is the longest monomer Karst cave system in the world, home of probably millions of bats, and open for tourism:
https://www.sciencetimes.com/articles/33905/20211012/china-rejects-who-investigation-hubei-wildlife-tourists-enjoy-enshi-bat.htm https://www.sciencetimes.com/articles/33905/20211012/china-r...
- xattt 4y ago> Bat guano collection for farming I thought this was made obsolete by the Haber-Bosch process.
- m0llusk 4y agoCurrently fallout from the Ukraine war has disrupted fertilizer markets globally. Anyone who can keep a Haber-Bosch process going is dominating the output and selling any extra at a premium. Guano is extremely valuable right now.
- lamontcg 4y agoTell that to the people in China, Thailand and elsewhere that collect it: https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-health-coronavirus-thailand-bats-idUKKBN2130KH https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-health-coronavirus-thaila... https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3739538/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3739538/ https://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijecol/2020/9872532/ https://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijecol/2020/9872532/ https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-31860-w https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-31860-w https://www.alibaba.com/countrysearch/CN/bat-guano-fertilizer.html https://www.alibaba.com/countrysearch/CN/bat-guano-fertilize...