Cat parasite reduces general anxiety in infected mice, not just fear of feline predators
Tuesday, January 14, 2020 - 11:10
in Biology & Nature
The cat parasite Toxoplasma gondii is known to cause infected rodents to lose their fear of feline predators, which makes the mice easier to catch. Predators then spread the parasites through their feces. But this so-called fatal feline attraction theory is flawed, suggests a study publishing January 14 in the journal Cell Reports. Rather than exhibiting a loss of feline-specific fear, infected rodents actually show a decrease in general anxiety and reduced aversion to a wide range of threats.