The natural reservoirs of SARS-CoV have not been identified, but a number of species of wildlife (e.g. civets, ferrets) consumed as delicacies in southern China have been found to be infected by a related coronavirus.
Naravni rezervoarji SARS-CoV niso bili ugotovljeni, vendar so odkrili, da so bile mnoge vrste divjih živali (npr. cibetovke, beli dihurji), ki jih na južnem Kitajskem uživajo kot specialitete, okužene s sorodnim koronavirusom.