Hijexx wrote:
] Read on for the interesting conclusion :)
]
] ...
]
] Scientists have discovered a one-celled protozoan parasite
] called Toxoplasma gondii that frequently lives in the brains
] of wild brown rats. It is a normally harmless parasite
] commonly found in most mammals, including man.
]
] But T. gondii can only reproduce in the guts of cats.
]
] Researchers at the University of Oxford in the past couple of
] years have been studying the parasite and now have found it
] appears to be influencing the behavior of rats.
]
] Scientists say it makes infected rats unafraid of cats, their
] natural enemy.
]
] But the Oxford researchers found that when infected, normally
] super-cautious rats not only are significantly less fearful of
] cats, but they also are actually drawn to them.
]
] No one knows how it happens, but they do know why.
]
] The parasites need to be eaten by cats in order to get into
] their digestive system and reproduce. Somehow, they are
] changing the behavior of rats to make that more likely to
] happen.

yeah, this is some amazing stuff. i read recently about a couple of other parasites that do similar things. one, i think, causes some particular kind of wasp or bee or something to try and fly into the water to be eaten by a fish, where the parasite can reproduce. the other one was an ant parasite that reproduces in cows, iirc, so it makes the ants want to climb to the top of blades of grass and sit up there, where they're more likely to get eaten by a grazing cow. that this level of complexity in the process of reproduction could arise is remarkable and astounding to me.