That is not the only parasite that does that as well. Leucochloridium paradoxum infect snails and birds, and when they are in the snails they move into the tentacles and begin to pulsate in there to attract a bird which then will peck it off and eat it and get infected. They also cause the snail to move out of hiding places into areas the birds will see them when it is light outside.
Marshall Jim Holmes wrote: > "How does the parasite benefit from rats > going to areas in which cats have urinated?" > > Normal rats avoid cat urine areas like the plague; they know they are more > likely to be eaten where it is found. Toxoplasma gondii modifies that > behavior so that the rat goes to a cat urine area and waits there to be > eaten. > > The cat eats the rat. The gondii needs to live in the cat for part of its > life cycle. It must live part of its life in a cat and part in a rat. How > about that.... > > The point is that an organism can modify behavior of the host, to the > benefit of the organism and the death of the host. > > There are several other examples in the article. > > Really spooky stuff. > > Think about genetically engineered variants of that organism..... > > -----Original Message----- > From: Jonathan B. Britten [mailto:[email protected]] > Sent: Monday, February 13, 2006 7:56 PM > To: [email protected] > Subject: Re: CS>Toxoplasma gondii > > This is not quite clear to me. How does the parasite benefit from rats > going to areas in which cats have urinated? > > If the parasite can survive in rats, why would there be a need for > infected rats to be killed by cats? This is the only means by which I > can imagine some benefit to the parasite, that is, a chance to infect > more cats. Is the rat not as good a host? Its not clear. > > Also not clear is what benefit to the parasite human infestation might > yield. > > The information is very interesting, but some key details are missing I > think. I can't quite follow it. Can anyone clarify? > > On Tuesday, Feb 14, 2006, at 00:36 Asia/Tokyo, Dan Nave wrote: > > > In fact, some of the > > infected > > rats actually seek out the cat urine-marked areas again and again. The > > parasite alters the mind (and thus the behavior) of the rat for its > > own > > benefit. > > -- > The Silver List is a moderated forum for discussing Colloidal Silver. > > Instructions for unsubscribing are posted at: http://silverlist.org > > To post, address your message to: [email protected] > > Address Off-Topic messages to: [email protected] > > The Silver List and Off Topic List archives are currently down... > > List maintainer: Mike Devour <[email protected]> >
