It's crucial to identify the reservoirs of these emerging pathogens so that we can understand how they emerged, and predict and prevent future outbreaks. Civets were originally thought to be the origin of SARS but most researchers realized that the true wildlife reservoir remained a mystery. Our role was to visit the outbreak site and other areas in China and search for this reservoir. We targeted bats because they are the source of other lethal pathogens that have recently emerged, and are part of the wildlife trade throughout Asia. Jonathan Epstein