As diabetes surges worldwide, scientists are turning to an unlikely critter for new insight: Fruit bats. These small furry critters are able to gorge themselves on a sweet diet without ill effect; while their blood sugar does spike, their biology appears to be able to self-regulate, bringing levels back to normal within a half hour. To test theories about these creatures’ kidney and pancreas functions, researchers have compared the metabolisms of both fruit bats and bats that only eat insects, concluding that the difference may be the level of physical activity, one similarity between our two species.
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https://www.npr.org/sections/goats-and-soda/2024/08/16/nx-s1-5064652/diabetes-bats-sugar-consumption