Largest study of bat genomes and fossils shows bats originated in Europe, not Asia

G’day r/science – sharing this study our researcher, Emeritus Professor Suzanne Hand, has contributed to.

The full study has been published in Nature here: [https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-026-11007-3](https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-026-11007-3)

The study brought together 137 researchers from 64 countries through the Bat1K consortium, combining genomic and fossil evidence to reconstruct 65 million years of bat evolution, settling decades of debate about the evolutionary origins of bats by showing that they first appeared in Europe.

The research also revealed that echolocation evolved near the dawn of bat evolution and lays the groundwork for research into the genetic basis of bats’ exceptional longevity and disease resistance, with potential relevance to human health.

It’s all Eurasia anyways.