Debunk: Species-Jumping Scepticism

Someone wrote:
I contracted COVID very early on before there was a vaccine and paid close attention to the 'experts' for guidance. I called multiple hotlines to offer myself for monitoring in case my antibodies could be helpful (crickets). The experts didn't know what they didn't know and should have said that. The impact it had on me is distrust, not because of Trump, not because of MAGA but because people we we trusted outright lied. Did you really believe on day one that a bat had sex with a pangolin in the same place a lab was located?

I replied:

I have to start by asking, very gently, whether the bat‑and‑pangolin sex line was meant as a joke (in which case haha good one!), or whether no one ever explained to you how species‑jumping actually works. It is a perfect illustration of how confusing science communication can be - especially when sex is a possibility.

In reality, species‑jumping does not require animal romance. A very plausible pathway is simply two animals sharing the same food source. For example, bats often chew fruit and drop it, and pangolins or other small mammals may scavenge the same fruit. Bat saliva or droppings (tasty tasty bat droppings!) on the fruit can expose the second animal to the virus.

That is one common route, but there are others: shared roosting areas, contaminated surfaces, predators eating prey, or repeated contact in the same environment. It is ordinary ecology, not a wildlife soap opera.

 Viruses are very good at species‑jumping because it helps them spread. It is not "on purpose" - they are not conscious like you and me, but the versions that happen to mutate in a way that infects a new species get to reproduce more. Over time, the successful ones become the dominant ones. It is evolution doing what evolution does.

 So no, no bat needs to date a pangolin. They just need to chew the same fruit. Nature handles the rest, and it does not even ask for a first date!