Wider Image: By catching bats, these 'virus hunters' hope to stop the next pandemic

Phillip Alviola, a bat ecologist, holds a bat that was captured from Mount Makiling in Los Banos, Laguna province, Philippines, March 5, 2021. "What we're trying to look into are other strains of coronavirus that have the potential to jump to humans," said Alviola. "If we know the virus itself and we know where it came from, we know how to isolate that virus geographically." REUTERS/Eloisa Lopez

LOS BANOS, Philippines (Reuters) - Researchers wearing headlamps and protective suits race to untangle the claws and wings of bats caught up in a big net after dark in the Philippine province of Laguna.

The tiny animals are carefully placed in cloth bags to be taken away, measured and swabbed, with details logged and saliva and faecal matter collected for analysis before they are returned to the wild.