Why do bats harbor many viruses in themselves and survive?

A bat can carry many different viruses such as Marburg, Nipah, Hendra, Ebola . without getting sick. This is because their immune system is superior to other mammals.

Bats with over 1,300 species, are a diverse group of animals. Bats live on every continent except Antarctica and have a longer life span than other terrestrial mammals. Large brown bats in the United States can live for nearly 20 years in the wild, while other bats can live for nearly 40 years. Meanwhile, the average life expectancy of animals like house mice is about 2 years. Bats live in densities of millions. These make the bat more likely to be exposed to the virus and the virus is more easily circulated within the bat than the other species.

Why do bats harbor many viruses in themselves and survive? Picture 1

Bats are not severely affected by the dangerous viruses they carry, except rabies. According to scientists, the cause of this strange thing may be due to the way the bats adapt to flight, causing their immune systems to change. Bats are the only mammal that can fly. Flight increases the bat's metabolism and body temperature. This is similar to fever in humans and other mammals. Over the centuries of evolution, the bat's immune system has been modified, allowing it to adapt more easily to viruses.

Bats are not the only animals that carry disease, but the virus in them is more dangerous than other species. When studying 188 types of pathogenic viruses, the scientists found that the incidence of these viruses in bats was "significantly higher" than that of other mammals.

Bats are many, live close to humans and have the ability to fly, so the ability to spread and spread the virus to humans is also higher.