Bats carry lots of viruses – including variants of the coronavirus that sparked the pandemic. But since bats don't often attack humans, the question is: What's the risk of these viruses being passed on to humans.

A new study inadvertently discovered a possible route of transmission . Researchers were filming bats to learn how they communicate when they swarm – and during a routine watch of the live footage they saw something that shocked them: A rat grabbed a bat and bit it.

"We thought, oh well, that's an unlucky coincidence," says Mirjam Knörnschild , co-author of the paper and head of evolutionary diversity dynamics at the Museum of Natural History in Berlin. But then it happened again. And again. The rats could even snatch a bat flying in mid-air.

The study reveals as urbani

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