Expert: Walter Hintz - 3/26/2010

Question
Mr. Hintz,

I like to ponder scientific mysteries and try to come up with solutions. Though, I never have come up with any real solutions, I still find it fun to think about. Lately (as I believe you know) I have had a big interest in evolution. However, whenever I search "Evolutionary Mysteries" on Google I get a lot of Creationist junk. Do you know of any "evolutionary mysteries" that are stumping scientists today?
Thanks!

Mark

Answer
There are a lot of mysteries to me especially involving animal behavior. To my it just seems so unlikely that natural selection alone can account for some things. Let me give you an example. There is a parasitic protozoan called Toxoplasma gondii That has two stages in it's life cycle; a sexual cycle in a cat and an asexual stage in another mammal like a rat. Ova are produced in a cat and expelled in cat feces and picked up by a rat where it undergoes an asexual development. Now to reproduce sexually the cat has to consume a rat or the parasite does not reproduce and dies.  Now rats are inherently afraid of cats and avoid them.  However a rat infected with Toxoplasma actually does not avoid and in a sense goes looking for a cat.  Here is a case whereby a parasite literally alters the innate behavior of an animal in order to survive. The rabies virus also alters behavior.  The virus is in saliva of a rabid animal and is spread though bites. An animal (even people)that would normally not bite anybody looks for another animal to bite. I cannot see how behavior can be altered through random mutations