Zombie rats: Parasite lures rodents to their death by making them sexually attracted to the smell of cats

By GRAHAM SMITH

Danger zone: A parasite that turns rats into zombies and manipulates them into losing their fear of cats has been uncovered by scientists

A parasite that turns rats into zombies and manipulates them into losing their fear of cats has been uncovered by scientists.

Cat urine normally acts as natural deterrent to rodents, who are keen to keep their distance from their natural predators.

But researchers found that Toxoplasma-infected male rats exposed to cat urine suffered an increased activation in the brain regions involved in sexual attraction.
At the same time, the brain regions that govern fear were paralysed, as expected.

Co-study author Robert Sapolsky, a professor of neuroscience at Stanford University, said: 'Normally, we would expect Toxoplasma to knock out the normal fear function in the brain, but in these rats the parasite also tapped into the sexual arousal pathway, which is strange.'

Toxoplasma requires the cat digestive system for sexual reproduction.

By not only reducing a rat's fear of the smell around cats, but also attracting them to it, the parasite makes the rodent far more susceptible to being killed by a cat.

This therefore enables the completion of the parasite's life cycle.


source: dailymail

You dirty giant rat: World's largest rodent stalks the sewers of California

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER


A giant South American rodent weighing at least 100 pounds is captured on camera at a waste-water treatment facility in California recently before disappearing in the brush.

The animal, identified as a capybara, is the world's largest rodent and feeds on vegetation.

‘If you think a giant guinea pig is cute, then you probably would like it,’ said Todd Tognazzini, of the California Department of Fish and Game.

Sew there you are: The capybara - thought to be an escaped pet - wanders away from the water-treatment plant in Paso Robles


The capybara is believed to be an escaped pet, Tognazzini said.

The animal was spotted at the waste-water treatment facility in Paso Robles, 175miles north-west of Los Angles.

An employee at the plant took photos of the animal as it crawled out of a pond.

The capybara's South American habitat ranges from Panama to northeast Argentina, east of the Andes, according to a description on the website of the San Francisco Zoo.

A capybara can hold its breath under water for up to five minutes, and the animal spends much of its roughly four-year lifespan near the water, he said.

The latest spotting of the capybara comes two years after another sighting of the animal at a ranch around one mile away.

The animal has already achieved celebrity status on the west coast and - following in the footsteps of the escaped Bronx Zoo cobra - a prank Twitter account has even been set up for it.

Its profile description reads: 'Came to the US for vacation and lost my passport. Can someone help a Capybara get home?'

The first tweet it posted, with the user name @CACapybara, read: 'I come from Peru and get famous!'

In California, the capybara cannot be held as a pet without a special permit. But that does not mean that some people do not keep them as illegal pets.

‘The Internet is fraught with examples of people scratching them on the belly and thinking they're cute and making pets of them,’ Tognazzini said.

The California Department of Fish and Game do not view the animal as dangerous.

Andrew Hughan, a spokesman for the organisation, hopes that the local population will leave the creature in peace.

He told the Los Angeles Times: 'You can’t hunt that thing. If we see people out there with nets and traps trying to catch it, we may take a more aggressive stance for the protection of the animal.'

He added: 'We hope that it lives a happy capybara life in Paso Robles.'

Big news: The capybara can grow up to a metre in length and have teeth that grow continuously


source:dailymail

The rat that wears a protective coat of deadly toxin made out of bark from a poisonous tree

-The Crested Rat from East Africa is the first mammal known to acquire lethal toxin from a plant


By Daily Mail Reporter


Avoid: The Crested Rat has deadly hairs filled with poison obtained from the bark of a toxic tree. It is the first mammal known to acquire lethal toxin from a plant


A species of rat coats itself in deadly toxin that it obtains by gnawing on a poisonous tree, scientists have discovered.

The Crested Rat - Lophiomys imhausi - from East Africa is the first mammal known to acquire lethal toxin from a plant.

To protect itself from predators, the creature chews the roots and bark of Acokanthera 'poison arrow trees' to extract the poison ouabain.

Bushmen in Kenya use the same poison to tip arrows which can fell an elephant.


In the case of the Crested Rat, the poison is absorbed into special lampwick-like hollow hairs on the animal's flanks.

When attacked, the rat puts on a dramatic fur-bristling display. Any predator that fails to get the message and takes a bite lives to regret it, or dies from heart failure.

Dogs have been known to collapse and die rapidly after biting a Crested Rat. Others that have survived an encounter shy away from the creature, according to local reports.

Researcher Dr Jonathan Kingdon, from Oxford University, said: 'At between 40cm and 50cm long, the Crested Rat looks quite innocuous as it clambers about in rocky, wooded valleys in Kenya and the Horn of Africa.

'But once disturbed or attacked the long fur on its flanks parts to expose a vivid black and white pattern around a leaf-shaped tract of peculiarly specialised hair, almost as if it is 'daring' a predator to take a bite of these poisoned hairs.'

Many species of tree frog use the same trick of employing plant toxins to make them poisonous to predators, but the trait has never before been documented in a mammal.

The scientists observed a wild-caught rat chewing Acokanthera bark and roots, mixing the ouabain poison with its saliva and selectively applying the spittle to the hollow hairs.

They were astonished by what they discovered when they examined the animal's poison hairs in the laboratory.

Professor Fritz Vollrath, another member of the Oxford University team, said: 'None of us had ever seen complex hair such as these with a latticework for the wall and a bundle of fine fibres for the core.

'It was surprising how effectively the hair was in "wicking-up" liquids, and then holding them fast. While the function of a reservoir for the poison was clear, we shied away from testing it by chewing a hair.'

The Crested Rat appears to be completely immune to ouabain, which is well known for its heart-arresting properties.

For centuries doctors have used tiny doses of the poison to stimulate weak hearts.

The scientists hope learning more about the chemistry and genetics of the Crested Rat's immunity could lead to new medicines for humans.

The research is published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.


source:dailymail

You flirty rat! New York fashionistas splurge on designer outfits ... for their pet rodents

By Daily Mail Reporter


Runway: Perriwinkle wows the NYC Fancy Rat Convention in Manhattan with her emerald green tutu


First there was doggy dresses, and coats for mini pigs, now trendy pet owners are ordering designer clothing for their rats.

Pet fashionista Ada Nieves is selling rat tuxedos, wedding dresses and bridesmaids gowns among other exclusive designs.

Ada, from New York, said: 'The rats look very cute and seem to like wearing them. Rats are very popular these days and the owners love to dress them up.'


Rat fans gathered in New York yesterday for a rodent fashion show featuring Ada's outifts, which come complete with crystals, feathers and frilly tutus, and sell for around £50 each.

Rat owner Kelly Antonova, 27, said: 'Rats have amazing personalities. They are like a dog, cat and ferret all rolled into one. But each also has its own individual character.

'I've had rats who swim in a little bath, or sleep on the bed. You can train them on a little lease and they will learn how to dance, and how to fetch things like a dog. Rats are very sociable and give you a lot of love. They are very intelligent and

share similar characteristics to humans.'

Traditional: Rat Lily showcases designer Ada Nieve's wedding couture dress

Model behaviour: Sugar and Spice storms the catwalk in this matching jacket and lead ensemble


The latest breeds sell for around £70 but owners are also spending a fortune on rat furniture for their cages, toys, hammocks, clothing and harnesses.

Kelly, from Long Island, who runs a pet supply business, Kelly Critter Creations, added: 'Friends of owners usually end up falling in love with rats and getting their own.'It became more fashionable once people realised celebrities were keeping rats.

The message is finally getting out that rats make great pets.'

The fashion show, held as part of the New York City Fancy Rat Convention, was organised by the Big Apple Rattery, which provided all the rat models.

Frills: Lily shows off her colourful dress which was designed by Ada Nieves

Dressed to impress: Blue the rat takes part in the fashion show in this teal dress


source:dailymail

Pets should be renamed 'companions', claim animal rights academics (and rats are just 'free living')

By Daily Mail Reporter


'Free ranging animal': Rats should not be called vermin because the term is derogatory, according to the editors of the Journal of Animal Ethics


Animals should not be described as 'vermin', 'pests' or even 'pets', animal ethicists have decided.

Academics say that traditional words used to characterise animals like 'beasts' and 'critters' are derogatory and should be replaced.

They say words like 'pests' and 'vermin' should be dropped altogether, and 'pets' replaced by 'companion animals'.


'Wild animals' should be termed 'free living or free ranging animals' they argue, because 'wildness' is too close to 'uncivilised'.

The call for a new 'animal language' has been made by the editors of a new academic journal, the Journal of Animal Ethics, published this month for the first time by the University of Illinois Press.


They said: 'Despite its prevalence, "pets" is surely a derogatory term both of the animals concerned and their human carers.

'Again the word "owners", whilst technically correct in law, harks back to a previous age when animals were regarded as just that: property, machines or things to use without moral constraint.'

But their semantic zeal does not end with man's best friends. They also argue for a new understanding of animals in their natural habitat.

'In addition, we invite authors to use the words "free-living", "free-ranging" or "free-roaming" rather than "wild animals",' they said.

'For most, "wildness" is synonymous with uncivilised, unrestrained, barbarous existence. There is an obvious prejudgment here that should be avoided.'

The Journal of Animal Ethics has been launched with the goal of widening international debate about the moral status of animals.

The editors claim that the change in vocabulary is essential to updating our understanding of the relationship between humans and the natural world.


'Companion animal': The words 'pet' and 'owner' are bad because they evoke the idea of property rights, academics say


'Our existing language about animals is the language of past thought – and the crucial point is that the past is littered with derogatory terminology: "brutes", "beasts", "bestial", "critters", "sub-humans", and the like,' they argue.

'We shall not be able to think clearly unless we discipline ourselves to use less than partial adjectives in our exploration of animals and our moral relations with them.'

It is edited by the Reverend Professor Andrew Linzey, a theologian and Director of the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics, and Professor Priscilla Cohn, Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at Penn State University and Associate Director of the Centre.


source:dailymail