Question

How has/is our lack of knowledge surrounding animal diversity limiting our ability to identify the source of these pathogens?

Answer 1

It is very difficult to study any single animal completely. Various parts are involved in these studies. Animals are very different to rear also. And their life cycles are comparatively longer. Availability of all animals in a specific region is completely impossible. Different animals adapted to different climatic conditions in this world. So reaching at each and every place of the earth and finding each and every animal is very very difficult job and it will take hundreds of years and thousands of people to be involved. Costs are also there.

So these are the various problems which exist. For these reasons there is lacking of knowledge about all animals.

So we also don't know about their lifestyles, their life cycles, their feeding behaviour, interaction with other pathogens and diseases. These lack of information exist in nature. And thus if any disease spreads into human population and if it comes from animal and if we don't know the source of the disease or pathogen then it becomes very difficult to cure any disease of human. Curing also takes time, costly billions of dollars and costs people lives.