Mind-controlling parasite makes hyena cubs more reckless around lions

Re:Mind-controlling parasite makes hyena cubs more reckless ... by pvaldes on Tuesday July 06, 2021 @05:02AM (#27745771)

For 600th time... Toxoplasmosis is NOT a "mind controlling" parasite. Ill animals are preyed more often than healthy animals. THIS IS NORMAL. Because they are ill (and predators have an essential role as cleaners of ill animals).

If a bullet hits somebody (non-fatally) in the head, a common outcome is the behavior of this person changing forever. The bullet is not remote mind-controlling them from the drawer of the physician; It has caused some brain damage that is a different concept. Toxoplasmosis does exactly the same. It causes a brain damage in the cub, so they are more vulnerable.

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Re:Mind-controlling parasite makes hyena cubs more reckless ... by leoedin on Tuesday July 06, 2021 @05:27AM (#27745959)

Given how effective natural selection is for selecting surviving traits, why are you so sure that a parasite can't have some level of behaviour altering effects? Sure, it's probably not an inner monologue telling the hyena where to go, but it does appear that infected animals are either more reckless in general, or less cautious when faced with lions specifically - a behaviour which helps the parasite reproduce.

Do you have any sources for your claim that that toxoplasmosis doesn't have any behaviour altering effects?

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Re:Mind-controlling parasite makes hyena cubs more reckless ... by pvaldes on Tuesday July 06, 2021 @06:01AM (#27746204)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moving_the_goalposts

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russell%27s_teapot

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Re:Mind-controlling parasite makes hyena cubs more reckless ... by yarg on Tuesday July 06, 2021 @06:54AM (#27746623)

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26859275/

That's an incredibly weak straw man that you've built there.

Toxoplasmosis has been shown to alter the behaviour of prey species in such a way that they become attracted to the urine of members of predator species - and this attraction significantly improves toxoplasmosis' chance of reproduction.

The "mind control" is very limited - but when a sick animal pretty much ends up programmed to dive into a predator's mouth "THIS IS NORMAL" could not be further from the truth.

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Re:Mind-controlling parasite makes hyena cubs more reckless ... by lazyjones on Tuesday July 06, 2021 @05:52AM (#27746142)

Agreed, the conclusions about mind control or altered behaviour are unsupported by the observations. For example, hyena cubs with the parasite getting closer to lions might simply be due to worsened sense of smell or vision, or less attention due to pain etc. ... We unfortunately live in a time where science profits from sensationalist speculation.

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Re:Mind-controlling parasite makes hyena cubs more reckless ... by amelius on Tuesday July 06, 2021 @05:07AM (#27745798)

Yeah, the closest most people here have been to a mind controlling parasite is Facebook.

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Re:Mind-controlling parasite makes hyena cubs more reckless ... by nikolay on Wednesday July 07, 2021 @05:53PM (#27766147)

Maybe fungi, which turn ants is zombies, is also part of some sick fiction... except that is true. The world is full of evil biological schemes. And toxoplasmosis is one of the most widely spread mind-control on this planet.

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