In this follow-up to Episode 1's conversation on incels (involuntary celibate men) and their obsession with the idea of the alpha male, we drill into the origins of the alpha — and discover it's all pretty much a myth. Our guest is Connor Meyer, a PhD student at the University of Montana who has been studying Yellowstone National Park's wolves, the animal the incel community seems most fixated on. Connor has a new study out that suggests a lot of the more aggressive behavior exhibited by wolves in the park has nothing to do with genetics but instead a little parasite called Toxoplasma gondii. To support the show, visit our Patreon and become a patron today. You can also sign up for our free monthly newsletter. Follow us on Twitter and on Instagram for climate news and dank memes. You can find Connor's study on "toxo" and other resources below.
Rudolph Shenkel’s 1947 study of wolf behavior.
Dr. Frans De Waal's 1982 book Chimpanzee Politics, which purportedly became a favorite of Republican House of Representative’ Speaker, Newt Gingrich.
Michigan State University’s Mara Hyena Project.
Connor Meyer, Kira Cassidy, et al.’s paper on the influences of Toxoplasma gondii’s on Yellowstone National Park wolves.
What exactly is telemetry and how is it used in wolf research?
KIra Cassidy’s TEDx Talk, “Aging in the wild: lessons from animals about the value of growing old.”
Wildlife biologist Diane Boyd, who has been called the “Jane Goodall of Wolves.”
Guest bio: Connor Meyer is a native of Whidbey Island, Washington, and is currently a wildlife biology doctoral student in the University of Montana's Ungulate Ecology Lab, which is part of the W.A. Franke College of Forestry & Conservation. His study on the influence of Toxoplasma gondii on wolf behavior in Yellowstone National Park was published in the journal Communications Biology in November 2022.
CORRECTION:
We want to clarify that Connor Meyer and his colleagues didn't discover any toxo-infected wolves killed by cougars in Yellowstone National Park during the course of their study. The study only hypothesized that the behavioural effects of toxoplasmosis may create a feedback loop that increases spatial overlap and disease transmission between wolves and cougars.
