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Parasite gives wolves what it takes to be pack leaders

nature.com

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Re: Parasite gives wolves what it takes to be pack leaders

#31

Post by Mistletoe »

fergal_reid wrote: post #29
simonh wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They looked at animals that were and were not infected, throughout their lives, and saw what they did, so they knew whether the animals were infected or not before they became pack leaders. From the article: >The team looked at 256 blood samples from 229 wolves, which had been carefully watched throughout their lives, and had their life histories and social status recorded. Meyer and Cassidy found that infected wolve…

Havent read the paper, but your quote doesn't change the core point that it could be correlation. E.g. perhaps aggression makes them more likely to eat infected animals and also more likely to challenge for leadership.

I had this thought but doesn’t the pack mostly eat the same thing?

Re: Parasite gives wolves what it takes to be pack leaders

#32

Post by tomger »

yesbut wrote: post #7
machina_ex_deus wrote: post #3

Imagine how dystopian that would sound in humans, like some science fiction horror. "All the leaders are secretly infected by parasites". Sounds like interesting sci fi movie premise.

There is the idea that anyone that wants to be a leader probably shouldn't be a leader. These are the types of people who crave being in positions of authority over others. They'll step on anyone they need to in order to get the the top. They might be the leader, but they usually aren't necessarily the types of people that are looking out for the best interests of the people they lead.

I think that’s the takeaway from the Lord of the Rings.

Re: Parasite gives wolves what it takes to be pack leaders

#36

Post by bsenftner »

yesbut wrote: post #12
stncls wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was once part of a department that was so well-managed and functional that I couldn't quite believe it. Then when time came choose a new department head, someone told me that they had always specifically avoided people who wanted to lead the department for the job.

Good policy. In worker owned enterprises that are run democratically the owner/employees elect their managers from the ranks. They act as manager for a term and then go back to their original position after the next election. Keeps everyone based in reality.

Decades ago, the Boston University Free Press (the alternative views newspaper) was managed in this manner. My buddy ended up running the paper for a year because he was the least political, most liked guy working at the place. He just wanted people to be happy. After a year, he was no longer happy and was glad to give up the job.

Re: Parasite gives wolves what it takes to be pack leaders

#37

Post by the_af »

988747 wrote: post #4

And I always thought that wolves live in families, not packs, and what it takes to be a "pack leader" is being the father of other wolves.

I had the same thought. And also, the whole classification of "alpha male", "beta male" of the pack has been debunked, since there's no pack, just the wolves family. So the "betas" are actually the young adults of the family, and the "alphas" the father and mother.

Re: Parasite gives wolves what it takes to be pack leaders

#38

Post by californiadreem »

machina_ex_deus wrote: post #3

Imagine how dystopian that would sound in humans, like some science fiction horror. "All the leaders are secretly infected by parasites". Sounds like interesting sci fi movie premise.

"There's a secret cabal of beings that are making my life personally miserable" is already a common enough position that cyclically occurs in human history every hundred years or so that I don't think it's a fiction. I don't think it's an untenable premise to suspect that toxoplasmosis pandemics are cyclically-occuring in humans already and are responsible for revolutionary periods and/or imperialism.

What people might find unpalatable is the idea that parasitic infection could determine so fundamentally political beliefs and ideology, but consider that the idea of not cleaning your hands directly led to disease was considered literal insanity (see the tragic history of Ignaz Semmelweis) prior to germ theory. Sometimes it's the smallest catalysts that cause the largest changes. For the want of a nail...

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