Musteloids and Mongoose

[Spalea]

Dereck Joubert: " With the entire world now confronting the unprecedented threat of the coronavirus pandemic, much is being written about the link between the spread of diseases and environmental destruction. Every species depends on the delicate balance within ecosystems – often in quite subtle ways. Just recently, for example, researchers discovered that mongoose transmit more disease in environments that have insufficient predators. Without that ever-looming predatory threat, mongoose are free to spend more of their time on scent-marking to communicate. Those secretions often contain pathogens, so more time spent on scent-marking means more germs are deposited across the habitat. It’s just one small example of how predators are critical for healthy ecosystems – and healthy ecosystems are critical for the health of everything else. "

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