A study of 26 years' worth of wolf behavioral data and an analysis of the blood of 229 wolves shows that wolves are more likely to become a pack leader if they are bitten by the Toxoplasma gondii parasites.
The effects of this parasites in the wild have been poorly studied and underestimated.
If you have a cat, you've heard of this. The organisms can only be found in the bodies of cats, but they can be found in almost any warm-blooded animal.
It can cause a symptomless disease called toxoplasmosis in humans.
T. gondii parasites need to find a way to get their offspring back inside a cat if they don't want to be an evolutionary dead-end. It has a way of making it seem like it's getting more chances.
Rats with the parasites are more likely to be killed by cats if they become attracted to the scent of cat urine.
Chimpanzees have an increased risk of a run-in with a larger cat. The hienas are more likely to be killed by lions.
There are gray wolves in the park. Sometimes their territory overlaps with the territory of other animals, such as the bison and mule deer.
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A rare opportunity to study the effects of the parasites on a wild host was offered by the data collected on the wolves.
The researchers looked at blood samples from wolves and other animals to see if they were carriers of the disease.
They found that wolves with a lot of territory were more likely to get the disease.
There was a behavioral consequence as well.
The wolves were more likely to leave their pack and go somewhere else. There was a 50 percent chance that an infectious male would leave his pack within six months.
Females who were HIV positive had a 25 percent chance of leaving their pack within 30 months.
A pack leader is more likely to be an infectious wolf. Increased testosterone levels could help a wolf assert itself as a pack leader.
There are a couple of consequences. Pack leaders reproduce and T. gondii can be passed from mother to offspring. The dynamics of the whole pack can be affected by it.
The gray wolf pack has a disproportionate influence on their pack mates and on group decisions due to the group living structure.
The behavior of the wolves in the pack could be influenced by the behavior of one wolf.
The leader of the pack could face a higher rate of T. gondii infections if they sought out the scent of pee as they pushed into new territory. The feedback loop is caused by increased overlap and infections.
There is compelling evidence that tiny, under studied agents can have a big influence on the dynamics of the environment.
The study shows how community-level interactions can affect individual behavior and could potentially scale up to group-level decision-making, population biology, and community ecology.
It's important to understand the impacts of parasites on individuals, groups, populations, and the environment.
The research has appeared in a journal.
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