Climate change will force wild mammals to relocate to new habitats, which could increase the spread of viruses between animal species, creating fertile ground for future pandemics, a new study has warned.

The research findings, published in the scientific journal Nature on Thursday, used mathematical models to calculate how temperature and land use changes would alter the geographical range of the habitats of 3,139 mammals, and the knock-on effect that would have on viral transmission.

Even under an optimistic scenario, in which global temperature rises peak at 1.8C by the end of the century, researchers at Georgetown University who were behind the study projected that mammals shifting their geographic ranges to adapt to habitat changes “could create thousands of new opportunities for viruses to find new hosts”.