Checked reel · 4 Nov 2026
A 2021 study in Nature Communications analyzed 30 years of field data from Kenya's Maasai Mara and confirmed that hyena cubs infected with Toxoplasma gondii approach lions much more closely and are four times more likely to be killed by them. Toxoplasma gondii can only reproduce sexually inside felids like lions and house cats. To complete its life cycle, the parasite alters the behavior of intermediate hosts, making infected rodents lose fear of cat urine and infected hyena cubs lose fear of lions. It infects roughly a third of all humans worldwide as well, though it usually remains dormant in people with healthy immune systems.
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