2.2 Rodent fecal sample collection
Six hundred and three fecal specimens were collected from 210 farmed rats, 369 wild rats, and 24 red-bellied squirrels from Hainan, China between December 1, 2017 and October 31, 2019 (Table 2 ). For capturing the wild rats, 20 cage traps were installed at each location containing peanut/sesame butter and sunflower seeds as the bait. The cages were positioned at sunset 5 meters apart in transects and collected before sunrise. Within 48 h of capture, the wild rats were euthanized through CO2 inhalation, followed by the collection of fresh fecal specimens (~500 mg) from the intestines.
For the farmed rats, a total of 117 bamboo rats and 93 Asiatic brush-tailed porcupine feces samples were procured from tanks each housing 1 to 3 animals. A single fecal specimen (~15 g) was gathered from each tank (using disposable gloves), and approximately 30% of the total animals of each farms were collected, to minimize duplicate sampling.
Additionally, 24 fecal samples were collected from red-bellied squirrels which were captured from the Jianfeng Ling (18°23′-18°52′ N, 108°44′-109°02′ E).