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+--- Thread: Article Weird thing happens to wolves infected by infamous mind-altering parasite (/thread-14032.html)
Weird thing happens to wolves infected by infamous mind-altering parasite - C C - Apr 30, 2023
Double-plus glad I never had a penchant for cats. People who own them behave "oddly"...
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https://www.sciencealert.com/a-weird-thing-happens-to-wolves-infected-by-infamous-mind-altering-parasite
INTRO: A study of 26 years' worth of wolf behavioral data, and an analysis of the blood of 229 wolves, shows that infection with the parasite Toxoplasma gondii makes wolves 46 times more likely to become a pack leader.
The research shows that the effects of this parasite in the wild have been horrendously understudied – and its role in ecosystems and animal behavior underestimated.
If you have a cat, you've probably heard of this parasite before. The microscopic organism can only sexually reproduce in the bodies of felines, but it can infect and thrive in pretty much all warm-blooded animals.
This includes humans, where it can cause a typically symptomless (but still potentially fatal) parasitic disease called toxoplasmosis.
Once in another host, individual T. gondii parasites needs to find a way to get their offspring back inside a cat, if they want to avoid becoming an evolutionary dead-end. And the parasite has a creepy way of maximizing its chances.
Animals such as rats infected with the parasite start taking more risks, and in some cases actually become fatally attracted to the scent of feline urine, thus making them more likely to be killed by cats.
For larger animals, such as chimpanzees, it means an increased risk of a run-in with a larger cat, such as a leopard. Hyenas infected with T. gondii also are more likely to be killed by lions... (MORE - details)