This question has puzzled scientists since the SARS virus first appeared and spread around the world: Where did it come from? Now, the first clue has appeared. Researchers in Hong Kong and Shenzhen have proved the probable culprit ( 凶犯 )— the palm civet( 果子狸 ), a small cat-like animal that is treated as a tasty dish in some parts of China. After investigating many civets and other animals, scientists from the University of Hong Kong and Shenzhen Centre for Disease Control and Prion, made a discovery. Four of the palm civets tested were carrying the coronavirus( 冠状病毒 )that causes SARS. The study provides the first suggestion that the SARS virus exists outside humans. However, many important questions remain. The possibility of animal-to-animal transmission( 传播 )has to be investigated. For example, the presence of the virus could result from eating of an infected animal. Yuen Kwok-Yung, a microbiologist at the university, said the virus may have jumped into humans as people raised, killed and cooked the wild animals. The civet is one of the main parts in the usual wildlife dish “dragon-tiger-phoenix soup”, for which wealthy Chinese in Guangdong Province will pay large sums of money( 付大钱 ) . The soup includes pieces of civet cat and snake. Hong Kong virologist Malik Peiris, who heads the team that first found the SARS coronavirus, said that if the food was properly cooked, the virus should be killed. However, he said, it obviously came from the wild animal, and someone could came into contact with it while the live animal was being handled( 买卖 ). The findings, announced Friday, caused Chinese officials to ban the sale of the animals to try to stop the spread of the disease and pr new outbreaks, World Health Organization officials said. News from the WHO website says that it is too early to know how much wild animals cause the transmission of SARS.