So in 2019 I joined @Leendertz_Lab on a research trip to Taï National Forest in Cote d’Ivoire, where he has been studying this for 20 years.
With all the breaking news on vaccines and variants I’ve barely had a chance to talk about this piece on microbes moving between humans and animals.
I think it’s important for the conversations we’re having around #sarscov2.
So, piece is here: https://t.co/P9EsrxZxGy
And a thread
So in 2019 I joined @Leendertz_Lab on a research trip to Taï National Forest in Cote d’Ivoire, where he has been studying this for 20 years.
And he decided to get a vet to permanently track the animals’ health and study their infections. Fabian Leendertz took that job 20 years ago.
(My story here: https://t.co/dC9wgd4JwW).
Here’s a photo of Leendertz listening for any noise that morning:
He told me: “It’s a world of viruses that are crossing species in every direction and whenever that happens, it can cause devastating losses.”
Indeed there is a lot of that happening as Goldberg, Leendertz and others show.
But we only sit up and notice on the rare occasions when lightning strikes a human. Actually, sadly, a human from a rich western country.
We need to talk about this aspect of the animal-human interface too!
So a threat like #sarscov2 has to be taken seriously as a potential threat to these animals too, not just to humans.
https://t.co/8RlkwDbb5G
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I'm going to do two history threads on Ethiopia, one on its ancient history, one on its modern story (1800 to today). 🇪🇹
I'll begin with the ancient history ... and it goes way back. Because modern humans - and before that, the ancestors of humans - almost certainly originated in Ethiopia. 🇪🇹 (sub-thread):
The first likely historical reference to Ethiopia is ancient Egyptian records of trade expeditions to the "Land of Punt" in search of gold, ebony, ivory, incense, and wild animals, starting in c 2500 BC 🇪🇹
Ethiopians themselves believe that the Queen of Sheba, who visited Israel's King Solomon in the Bible (c 950 BC), came from Ethiopia (not Yemen, as others believe). Here she is meeting Solomon in a stain-glassed window in Addis Ababa's Holy Trinity Church. 🇪🇹
References to the Queen of Sheba are everywhere in Ethiopia. The national airline's frequent flier miles are even called "ShebaMiles". 🇪🇹
I'll begin with the ancient history ... and it goes way back. Because modern humans - and before that, the ancestors of humans - almost certainly originated in Ethiopia. 🇪🇹 (sub-thread):
The famous \u201cLucy\u201d, an early ancestor of modern humans (Australopithecus) that lived 3.2 million years ago, and was discovered in 1974 in Ethiopia, displayed in the national museum in Addis Ababa \U0001f1ea\U0001f1f9 pic.twitter.com/N3oWqk1SW2
— Patrick Chovanec (@prchovanec) November 9, 2018
The first likely historical reference to Ethiopia is ancient Egyptian records of trade expeditions to the "Land of Punt" in search of gold, ebony, ivory, incense, and wild animals, starting in c 2500 BC 🇪🇹
Ethiopians themselves believe that the Queen of Sheba, who visited Israel's King Solomon in the Bible (c 950 BC), came from Ethiopia (not Yemen, as others believe). Here she is meeting Solomon in a stain-glassed window in Addis Ababa's Holy Trinity Church. 🇪🇹
References to the Queen of Sheba are everywhere in Ethiopia. The national airline's frequent flier miles are even called "ShebaMiles". 🇪🇹