Photo: ARIS MESSINIS / Getty Images
By: The Opinion Updated 12 Dec 2022, 01: 26 pm EST
Although it may seem incredible, scientists discovered that the presence of a parasite can make it wolves that carry it are more likely to be leaders of their pack .
Infection by the parasite Toxoplasma gondii
(T. gondii) causes wolves to have 54 times more likely to become leaders of herd, found a study e 26 years of data on the behavior of wolves and a blood analysis of 675 wolves.
Research published in the journal Nature found that T. gondii can increase testosterone levels, which in turn could lead to increased aggression and dominance, which are traits that would help a wolf assert itself as pack leader.
This has a pair of important consequences . Pack leaders are the ones that reproduce, and transmission of T. gondii can be congenital, passing from mother to offspring. But it can also affect the dynamics of the whole pack.
In the investigation it is explained that due to the group life structure of the pack of gray wolves, the Pack leaders have a disproportionate influence on their peers and on group decisions.
“If the lead wolves are infected with T. gondii and show behavioral changes… this can create a dynamic whereby the behavior, triggered by the parasite in a wolf, influences in the rest of the wolves in the pack”, write the researchers in their article.
How does T. gondii work? 2022
T. gondii is one of the parasites that has the behavior strangest entity of nature and its level of influence on the host organism.
This microscopic organism can only reproduce in the body of felines , but it can infect and thrive in almost all warm-blooded animals.
Once on another host, the Individual parasites need to find a way to get their young back into a cat if they don’t want to become an evolutionary dead end. And he has a creepy way of maximizing his chances.
Animals such as rats infected by the parasite begin to run more risks and, in some cases, feel fatally attracted by the smell of feline urine and therefore are more likely to be killed by them.
In the case of wolves, these T. gondii-infected predators may be attracted to puma urine, which are the cats with which their territory sometimes overlaps.
You might also be interested
China presents the world’s first cloned arctic wolf
Increase in visitors to the parks from of the pandemic, threatens wildlife