Predator Cat Odors do what???
Predator Cat Odors Activate Sexual Arousal Pathways in Brains of Toxoplasma gondii Infected Rats.
We've heard before that the protist Toxoplasma gondii can modulate the behavior of infected mammalian hosts (articles are in the reference section of the linked article). What we haven't heard is that cat odor can stimulate sexual arousal in rats infected with T. gondii. Normally rats are averse to the smell of cats and avoid it, assumingly to avoid predation. However if the rats are infected with T. gondii they approach the smell of cats.
Abstract text: Cat odors induce rapid, innate and stereotyped defensive behaviors in rats at first exposure, a presumed response to the evolutionary pressures of predation. Bizarrely, rats infected with the brain parasite Toxoplasma gondii approach the cat odors they typically avoid. Since the protozoan Toxoplasma requires the cat to sexually reproduce, this change in host behavior is thought to be a remarkable example of a parasite manipulating a mammalian host for its own benefit. Toxoplasma does not influence host response to non-feline predator odor nor does it alter behavior on olfactory, social, fear or anxiety tests, arguing for specific manipulation in the processing of cat odor. We report that Toxoplasma infection alters neural activity in limbic brain areas necessary for innate defensive behavior in response to cat odor. Moreover, Toxoplasma increases activity in nearby limbic regions of sexual attraction when the rat is exposed to cat urine, compelling evidence that Toxoplasma overwhelms the innate fear response by causing, in its stead, a type of sexual attraction to the normally aversive cat odor.
Source, and free full text of the research article.
[Sorry, I don't have a popular press version of this one. I found it while searching Faculty of 1000 for an article to present at journal club. This article has a Fo1000 score of 8, for those who are curious. ]
We've heard before that the protist Toxoplasma gondii can modulate the behavior of infected mammalian hosts (articles are in the reference section of the linked article). What we haven't heard is that cat odor can stimulate sexual arousal in rats infected with T. gondii. Normally rats are averse to the smell of cats and avoid it, assumingly to avoid predation. However if the rats are infected with T. gondii they approach the smell of cats.
Abstract text: Cat odors induce rapid, innate and stereotyped defensive behaviors in rats at first exposure, a presumed response to the evolutionary pressures of predation. Bizarrely, rats infected with the brain parasite Toxoplasma gondii approach the cat odors they typically avoid. Since the protozoan Toxoplasma requires the cat to sexually reproduce, this change in host behavior is thought to be a remarkable example of a parasite manipulating a mammalian host for its own benefit. Toxoplasma does not influence host response to non-feline predator odor nor does it alter behavior on olfactory, social, fear or anxiety tests, arguing for specific manipulation in the processing of cat odor. We report that Toxoplasma infection alters neural activity in limbic brain areas necessary for innate defensive behavior in response to cat odor. Moreover, Toxoplasma increases activity in nearby limbic regions of sexual attraction when the rat is exposed to cat urine, compelling evidence that Toxoplasma overwhelms the innate fear response by causing, in its stead, a type of sexual attraction to the normally aversive cat odor.
Source, and free full text of the research article.
[Sorry, I don't have a popular press version of this one. I found it while searching Faculty of 1000 for an article to present at journal club. This article has a Fo1000 score of 8, for those who are curious. ]