[freeflight]

> Perhaps they sampled in the wrong time frame. The full article might have more info, but the linked one doesn't.

The data was collected over nearly 27 years, the link to the full open access paper is in the references; https://doi.org/10.1038%2Fs42003-022-04122-0

[tgv]

The abstract alone already provides fodder against the pack-leader hypothesis: animals in a cougar domain are more likely to get T.gondii, and it might have altered the cougar's behavior instead, which would be more in line with the proposed mechanism behind rat and hyena behavior modification. And I think the only one that's got more decisive evidence is the one where the rodent becomes less afraid of a cat's smell.

Not saying it can't be the case. But the linked article is bad (ok, I should have seen that coming), and there's a lot left to disprove before the conclusion can be drawn. Yet the reactions already want to test politicians for infection, as if there were no leaders before cats were commonplace, and as if it isn't known to be bad for pregnancy.