According to researchers in Guangzhou province in China, pangolins, which are ant-eating mammals with long snouts, can be the probable source of the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic. Based on these studies, scientists have said that genetic analysis shows some apparent connection since there is data indicating that pangolins are known to carry viruses similar to the coronavirus that has caused the pandemic. But the animal origin of the COVID-19 virus remains a matter of controversy since many scientists think that it originated from bats, owing to the genetic similarity with other identified strains of coronavirus.