Toxoplasma gondii infections are associated with costly boldness toward felids in a wild host

Eben Gering, Zachary M. Laubach (), Patty Sue D. Weber, Gisela Soboll Hussey, Kenna D. S. Lehmann, Tracy M. Montgomery, Julie W. Turner, Wei Perng, Malit O. Pioon, Kay E. Holekamp and Thomas Getty
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Eben Gering: Michigan State University, Department of Integrative Biology and Program in Ecology, Evolution and Behavior
Zachary M. Laubach: Michigan State University, Department of Integrative Biology and Program in Ecology, Evolution and Behavior
Patty Sue D. Weber: Michigan State University, Department of Large Animal Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine
Gisela Soboll Hussey: Michigan State University, Department of Pathobiology and Diagnostic Investigation, College of Veterinary Medicine
Kenna D. S. Lehmann: Michigan State University, Department of Integrative Biology and Program in Ecology, Evolution and Behavior
Tracy M. Montgomery: Michigan State University, Department of Integrative Biology and Program in Ecology, Evolution and Behavior
Julie W. Turner: Michigan State University, Department of Integrative Biology and Program in Ecology, Evolution and Behavior
Wei Perng: LEAD Center & University of Colorado, School of Public Health
Malit O. Pioon: Mara Hyena Project
Kay E. Holekamp: Michigan State University, Department of Integrative Biology and Program in Ecology, Evolution and Behavior
Thomas Getty: Michigan State University, Department of Integrative Biology and Program in Ecology, Evolution and Behavior

Nature Communications, 2021, vol. 12, issue 1, 1-8

Abstract: Abstract Toxoplasma gondii is hypothesized to manipulate the behavior of warm-blooded hosts to promote trophic transmission into the parasite’s definitive feline hosts. A key prediction of this hypothesis is that T. gondii infections of non-feline hosts are associated with costly behavior toward T. gondii’s definitive hosts; however, this effect has not been documented in any of the parasite’s diverse wild hosts during naturally occurring interactions with felines. Here, three decades of field observations reveal that T. gondii-infected hyena cubs approach lions more closely than uninfected peers and have higher rates of lion mortality. We discuss these results in light of 1) the possibility that hyena boldness represents an extended phenotype of the parasite, and 2) alternative scenarios in which T. gondii has not undergone selection to manipulate behavior in host hyenas. Both cases remain plausible and have important ramifications for T. gondii’s impacts on host behavior and fitness in the wild.

Date: 2021
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-24092-x

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