Ten different animal species feast on bats in a Ugandan cave offering clues to how deadly viruses spread

Serious stuff!

"When researchers in Uganda set up camera traps to monitor African leopards (Panthera pardus pardus) and spotted hyenas (Crocuta crocuta) in a national park last year, they had no idea that they would record so much more than just those animals. Several of the traps, placed outside a cave known to host Egyptian fruit bats (Rousettus aegyptiacus), caught on video a multitude of creatures feasting on the winged mammals. The bats are known carriers of Marburg virus, which can transfer into humans and cause a fatal haemorrhagic fever, so the footage offers real-time insight into how disease can spread.

Scientists know that bats can transmit viruses to humans either directly, or through an intermediate animal, from forensic detective work and other studies. The team in Uganda thinks this is the first time that potential intermediate animals have been caught on camera in a known hotspot for Marburg virus, which is in the same family as Ebola virus. ..."

‘Bat feast’ animal videos at African cave offer clues to how deadly viruses spread (partially behind paywall) "Researchers filmed 10 species eating or scavenging bats at known Marburg-virus hotspot — and caught hundreds of humans visiting."