A Surprising New Reason to Save the Trees

Raw Bat Guano
(Photo by Aphidwarrior)

Trees provide oxygen.  That alone could be enough of a reason for humans to quit their lumbering frenzy.

Yet a surprising but equally vital reason has recently surfaced.  Holy bat guano, another covid crisis could be on its way!

Chimps who had traditionally turned to decaying palm trees as an available sodium source have now been forced to eat guano instead.  Humans have excessively cut down these nutritious palms in order “to make strings for drying tobacco leaves.”

So what’s wrong with dining on bat guano?  A lot.  Bats are able to harbor quite a few pathogens without becoming ill.  Tiny viral killers can then be transmitted to humans via guano-eating chimps.  Direct contact isn’t even necessary.  Many such infections can be airborne.

All sorts of solutions have been proposed, not the brightest of which is to ”make fences, so that the chimpanzees can’t access the guano.”  Why stop there?  Why not just build walls throughout the jungle?

A wiser suggestion is simply this: quit cutting down so many trees!  Alternatives such as bamboo can often be used instead.  Each of those tobacco farmers can then be given a ball of jute twine when their birthdays roll around…

Resources

https://news.mongabay.com/2024/07/ugandan-chimps-are-eating-bat-guano-raising-concerns-over-human-epidemics/