Posted by Dee Ashley
I've heard that's the only theory they have right now regarding which species of animal helped start this mess. Pangolins actually are not related to bats, but look more like funky Asian armadillos (technically they are in the anteater family). Their scales are traded in China illegally sometimes (don't ask me why), which is hypothetically how the disease was transmitted to patient zero at that Chinese market.
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In February 2020, university researchers in China employing genomic sequencing found a 99% match between coronavirus found in pangolins and SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for the 2019–20 coronavirus outbreak.[6] Although, a 99% similarity is not necessarily enough to link them, a subsequent whole-genome comparison found that the pangolin and human viruses in fact share only 90.3% of their DNA, thus ruling out the animals as a direct source.[7] The initial speculation about pangolins being the origin of the virus may have led to mass slaughters, similar to what happened to civets during the SARS outbreak. [8]
Sorry, ^that means we're back to bats...