Rob Brooks, evolutionary biologist and author of Sex, Genes and Rock ?n? Roll: How evolution has shaped the modern world, has written a fascinating article on a parasite that cats carry, called Toxoplasma gondii.
He explains how this parasite manages to manipulate its hosts by changing their behaviour to suit the needs of the parasite. For example, infected rats will lose their aversion to cat urine and be more interested in new things, which they would normally avoid. This gives the parasite the opportunity to infect a cat, which is essential to its reproduction.
Similarly, people infected with the parasite can exhibit behaviour changes which differ for men and women. Studies on Toxoplasma have also linked it to raising the risk of brain cancer and schizophrenia. Brooks explains that while owning a cat does not put you at a higher risk of being infected, societies that do not keep cats as pets may be better off.
I should admit straight up that I?m no fan of cats. Like any zoologist I treasure the rare glimpses I have had of lions, leopards, serval and even ocelot.
But I have never understood the devotion of so many seemingly-rational people to a domestic animal that oozes disdain, dispenses allergy and destroys wildlife with such abandon.
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Cats: Academic, Non-fiction, South AfricaTags: Academic, Brain Cancer, Cats, English, Genes and Rock, Genes and Rock ?n Roll, How evolution has shaped the modern world, Infection, Non-fiction, Parasite, Rob Brooks, Schizophrenia, Sex, South Africa, Toxoplasma, Toxoplasma gondii, UCT Press
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