We studied what happens when guys add their cats to their dating app profiles
43% of people think they can get a sense of someone's personality by their picture.
27 September, 2020
Photo by Luigi Pozzoli on Unsplash
If you've used a dating app, you'll know the importance of choosing good profile pics.
<p>These photos don't just relay attractiveness; a recent study suggested that <a href="https://www.diyphotography.net/interesting-survey-shows-just-how-important-photos-are-in-online-dating/">43% of people</a> think they can get a sense of someone's personality by their picture. You might guess that someone who has included a photo of themselves hiking is an outdoorsy type of person. </p><p><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Q3FOUqcAAAAJ&hl=en">But as scientists</a> <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=8JxdDd8AAAAJ&hl=en">who study human-animal interactions</a>, we wanted to know what this meant for pet owners – in particular, male cat owners. </p><p>If you're a guy who owns a cat, what kind of effect does it have on suitors if you post a picture posing with your favorite feline?</p>
<p>Prior studies suggested that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/08927936.2015.1064216" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">women do judge a potential male partner based on whether he has pets</a>. While they favor men with dogs, the results showed that they also give men with cats an edge over non-pet owners.</p><p>Because of this, we reasoned that men pictured with cats would probably be viewed as more attractive and desirable than men who didn't pose with any animals.</p><p><a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/ani10061007" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">In our study</a>, we recruited 1,388 heterosexual American women from 18 to 24 years old to take a short anonymous online survey. In the survey, we presented them with photos of one of two young white men in their early 20s either posing alone or with a cat. To avoid biasing the women's responses, we randomly presented which photo they saw first. Each participant only rated one man, with and without a cat.</p><p>Each time the participants saw a photo, we asked them to rate the man pictured on several personality attributes, including his masculinity, femininity and dateability. We also asked the women if they defined themselves as a "cat person," "dog person," "neither" or "both."</p>
<p>Most of the women found the men holding cats to be less dateable. This result surprised us, since previous studies had shown that <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.2752/175303708X371564" target="_blank">women found men with pets to have higher potential as partners</a>. They also thought the men holding cats were less extroverted and more neurotic, agreeable and open. Importantly, they saw these men as less masculine, too.</p><p>This last point may explain our findings.</p><p>Prior research suggests that <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/29775193?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents" target="_blank">women often seek masculine men</a> – both in terms of physical appearance and behaviors. So the fact that women in our study found the photo of the man alone more masculine and more dateable supports the idea that women are likely to look first for clues related to masculinity when determining dateability.</p><p>We suspect old cultural norms may be playing a role in the responses. Past research suggests that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/men0000034" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">male femininity and homosexuality are still perceived to be connected</a>. Since cats are sometimes <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/08927936.1998.11425085" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">associated more closely with female owners</a> – and therefore, considered a feminine pet – posing with cats may have primed the women taking our survey to default to this outdated trope, despite <a href="https://www.bustle.com/articles/79524-10-reasons-to-date-a-man-who-owns-a-cat-because-it-actually-makes-him-10" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">some popular media efforts</a> to elevate the status of male cat owners.</p>
<p>Alternatively, the perception of male cat owners as less extroverted and more neurotic, agreeable and open may have nudged our respondents to put these men in the "friend zone." In other words, perhaps seeing a man pose with the cat suggests he might be a better confidant than date.</p><p>It's important to note that whether the women identified themselves as "cat people," "dog people," "both" or "neither" affected their perceptions. Women who self-identified as "cat people" were more inclined to view the men pictured with cats as more dateable or say they had no preference.</p><p>Of course, like any research, our work has its limitations. Our sample is a very specific population – heterosexual, primarily white women, aged 18 to 24 years and living in the United States. We don't know how these results would change if we surveyed, say, bisexual or gender-fluid women, men interested in men or individuals from different cultural backgrounds.</p><p>And that's the best part. This is a new, growing area of research, and it's only one of a handful of potential studies on the relationship between pet ownership and first impressions on dating apps. This means we have our work cut out for us.</p><p>But in the meantime, if heterosexual men are looking to get a match, it's probably a good idea if they save showing off their photos with their favorite felines for the first or second date.<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/144999/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation"></p><p><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/lori-kogan-1026738" target="_blank">Lori Kogan</a>, Professor of Clinical Sciences, <em><a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/colorado-state-university-1267" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Colorado State University</a></em> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/shelly-volsche-1063004" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Shelly Volsche</a>, Lecturer, <em><a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/boise-state-university-1983" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Boise State University</a></em></p><p>This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com/" target="_blank">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/we-studied-what-happens-when-guys-add-their-cats-to-their-dating-app-profiles-144999" target="_blank">original article</a>.</p>
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Animal magnetism: Bacteria may help creatures sense Earth's magnetic fields
An intriguing theory explains animals' magnetic sense.
17 September, 2020
Credit: PedroNevesDesign/designer_an/Shutterstock/Big Think
- Some animals can navigate via magnetism, though scientists aren't sure how.
- Research shows that some of these animals contain magnetotactic bacteria.
- These bacteria align themselves along the magnetic field's grid lines.
<p>It's one of the more fascinating discoveries of the last several decades: the growing list of animals who can navigate the Earth's magnetic grid to get where they need to go. From <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/9/birds-can-see-earths-magnetic-field/" target="_blank">birds</a> to <a href="https://bigthink.com/surprising-science/magnetic-dog" target="_self">dogs</a>, from fruit flies to lobsters, a number of species are somehow hooked into the planet's magnetic field — maybe even <a href="https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2019/03/humans-other-animals-may-sense-earth-s-magnetic-field" target="_blank">humans</a>. The big unanswered question is how?</p><p>A new paper just published in <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rstb.2019.0595" target="_blank">Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B</a> may have the answer: the creatures may have a symbiotic relationship with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetotactic_bacteria" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">magnetotactic bacteria</a> that orient them along global magnetic field lines.</p><p>While it's possible that the bacteria themselves are just one more magnetically sensitive organism, the paper presents evidence supporting the theory that their presence within other organisms endows their hosts with their magnetic navigational abilities.</p>
Magnetotactic bacteria hosts
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDQyMTQ2Ny9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY2MDcwMTYxMn0.BZ-cpaTejm38_HCvVoSZ92k58dxnQETahNmKOmB14X4/img.jpg?width=980" id="c6097" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="a9f01b7583442ad92a05927c79754f50" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="whale mother and calf" />A right whale mother and calf
Credit: wildestanimal/Shutterstock
<p>One of the paper's authors, Geneticist <a href="https://sciences.ucf.edu/biology/person/robert-fitak/" target="_blank">Robert Fitak</a>,<a href="https://sciences.ucf.edu/biology/person/robert-fitak/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"></a> is affiliated with the biology department of the <a href="https://www.ucf.edu" target="_blank">University of Central Florida</a> in (UCF) Orlando. Prior to joining the department, he spent four years as a postdoctoral researcher at Duke University investigating the genomic mechanisms responsible for magnetic perception in fish and lobsters.</p><p>Fitak tells <a href="https://www.ucf.edu/news/animals-magnetic-sixth-sense-may-come-from-bacteria-new-paper-suggests/" target="_blank">UFC Today</a>, "The search for a mechanism has been proposed as one of the last major frontiers in sensory biology and described as if we are 'searching for a needle in a needle stack.'"</p><p>That metaphorical needle stack may well be the scientific community's largest database of microbes, the <a href="https://bmcgenomics.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1471-2164-9-75" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Metagenomic Rapid Annotations using Subsystems Technology database</a>. It lists the animal samples in which magnetotactic bacteria have been found.</p><p>The primary use of the database, says Fitak, has been the measurement of bacterial diversity in entire phyla. An accounting of the appearance of magnetotactic bacteria in individual species is something that has previously be unexplored. "The presence of these magnetotactic bacteria had been largely overlooked, or 'lost in the mud' amongst the massive scale of these datasets," he reports.</p><p>Fitak dug into the database and discovered that magnetotactic bacteria have indeed been identified in a number of species known to navigate by magnetism, among them loggerhead sea turtles, Atlantic right whales, bats, and penguins. <em>Candidatus Magnetobacterium bavaricum</em> is regularly found in loggerheads and penguins, while <em>Magnetospirillum</em> and <em>Magnetococcus</em> are common among right whales and bats.</p><p>As for other magnetic-field-sensitive animals, he says, "I'm working with the co-authors and local UCF researchers to develop a genetic test for these bacteria, and we plan to subsequently screen various animals and specific tissues, such as in sea turtles, fish, spiny lobsters and birds."</p>The bacteria-host relationship
<p>While the presence of the bacteria in these particular species is intriguing, further study is needed to be sure they're responsible for other animals' magnetic navigation. Their presence in these species <em>could</em> be just a coincidence.</p><p>Fitak also notes that he doesn't know at this point exactly where in the host animal the magnetotactic bacteria would reside, or other details of their symbiotic relationship. He suggests that they might be found in nervous tissue associated with navigation, such as that found in the brain or eye.</p><p>If confirmed, Fitak's hypothesis could suggest that our own sensitivity to the Earth's magnetic field might one day be enhanced via magnetotactic bacteria in our own individual microbiomes, should they be benign to us as hosts.</p>
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Sharks flee in terror when killer whales show up
Sharks fear killer whales. How does this impact the ecosystems they share?
17 September, 2020
Credit: Tory Kallman/Shutterstock
- A new study finds that sharks will flee areas they met orcas in for up to a year.
- Killer whales are known to eat sharks, but it is unknown if the sharks are fleeing because they know that too.
- The discovery will change our understanding of how marine ecosystems evolve.
<p>Orcas, also known as "killer whales," are pretty cool. They're usually <a href="https://www.whalefacts.org/are-killer-whales-dangerous/" target="_blank">friendly </a>despite their nickname, and are in an elite club of animals with no natural <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apex_predator" target="_blank">predators</a>. With a range that spans the world and a coloring reminiscent of an equally popular but much less <a href="https://www.seeker.com/why-pandas-suck-at-being-pandas-1792606055.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">capable</a> land <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant_panda" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">animal</a>, their image permeates <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killer_whales_in_popular_culture" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">pop culture</a>.</p><p>But a new <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-39356-2" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">study</a> published in <a href="https://www.nature.com/srep/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Scientific Reports</a> offers another reason to be impressed by these majestic creatures; they are so intimidating to ocean life that even great white sharks flee in terror before them. </p>
The true apex predator
<p>The study, titled "Killer whales redistribute white shark foraging pressure on seals," results from years of investigations into the movements and behavior of 165 tagged great white sharks, observations and records of killer whale movements, and information on seal populations off the coast of California. They also looked to previous descriptions of shark and whale interactions to give context to their findings.</p><p>The sharks immediately turned tail and fled in every time they crossed paths with orcas. They'd also stay away from that place long afterward. Only <em>one </em>observed shark dared venture back to where it had just encountered the whales, and it didn't stick around. Most of the sharks merely fled a bit further up the coastline, while others went much further out to sea to avoid the whales. </p>Why are they doing this?
<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="14ccb270e8cc6888b69118539a29b63b"><iframe type="lazy-iframe" data-runner-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/B7GHCJXwLw8?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span><p>Orcas have been known to eat great whites. The remains of the sharks are a grotesque sight to behold and are always missing their <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/2019/07/killer-whales-orcas-eat-great-white-sharks/#:~:text=By%20Emma%20Rigney&text=In%20October%201997%2C%20tourists%20in,killer%20whales%20eating%20white%20sharks." target="_blank">livers</a>, no matter how much else remains or is missing. If the orcas have discovered a source of Chianti to pair with them or not remains unknown at this <a href="https://youtu.be/bHoqL7DFevc?t=28" target="_blank">time</a>.</p><p>However, we don't currently know if the sharks are fleeing because they understand that risk, because they knew the orcas would fight them for the same food supply, because whales look big and scary to them, or some combination of the three.</p><p>Before this gets too frightening, there are no known cases of wild orcas killing <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killer_whale_attack" target="_blank">humans</a>, and only a few examples of injuries being caused by these interactions. <a href="https://bigthink.com/surprising-science/orcas-and-stress" target="_blank">Orcas kept in tiny boxes</a> for long periods can be a bit more violent, but that's another story. </p><iframe width="730" height="430" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/yObCpYLLJSk" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe><p>Anything that makes sharks flee in terror will have an impact on the ecosystem. In this case, elephant seals <a href="https://www.sciencealert.com/turns-out-there-s-another-ocean-creature-that-scares-the-hell-out-of-great-white-sharks" target="_blank">benefit</a>.</p><p>Observations of seal populations show a decline in predation events after orcas that can last for an entire year. While orcas occasionally snack on elephant seals, they stick to fish most of the time. It's a boon for the seals in areas the sharks leave, though the seals in the places they flee to might not see it that way. The findings of this study will inform our understanding of seal population fluctuations.</p><p>As lead author Salvador Jorgensen <a href="https://www.sciencealert.com/turns-out-there-s-another-ocean-creature-that-scares-the-hell-out-of-great-white-sharks" target="_blank">explains</a>, the study also demonstrates that "food chains are not always linear. So-called lateral interactions between top predators are fairly well known on land but are much harder to document in the ocean. And because this one happens so infrequently, it may take us a while longer to fully understand the dynamics."</p><p>For those wondering how much longer it may take to reach that understanding, this study relied on decades of data on shark, whale, and seal populations in addition to the recently collected information. While demonstrating the value of long-term datasets and the long-term importance of minor interactions is great for science, the impatient may be disappointed at the slow pace of progress. </p><p>But the most important take away of this study might be the obvious one:</p><p>Never made an orca angry, unless you're tougher than a great white shark. </p>
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Megalodon’s actual size, recalculated
A new study bases its calculations on more than the great white shark.
09 September, 2020
Credit: Kalan/Wikimedia Commons
- Previous estimates of the megalodon's size were based solely on its teeth compared to the star of "Jaws."
- The prehistoric monster is as closely related to other sharks.
- Imagine just a dorsal fin as tall as you are.
<p>For anyone already terrified by ferocious sharks — few of them actually are, of course — the prehistoric <a href="https://www.livescience.com/63361-megalodon-facts.html" target="_blank">megalodon</a>, <em>Otodus megalodon</em>, goes several steps beyond a nightmare. Not much is known about the animal that roamed the seas from 23 million to about three million years ago. The most definitive fossils are triangular teeth that are larger than a human hand, really not much from which to extrapolate a complete picture of the shark. Even so, they suggest a gargantuan predator. Have you seen "<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4779682/" target="_blank">The Meg</a>"?</p><p>Now a new, open-source study from the University of Bristol and Swansea University published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-71387-y" target="_blank">Scientific Reports</a> purports to have figured the megalodon's true dimensions, and they don't disappoint.</p>
What’s different about this analysis
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzg3MjU5OS9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxNDc2MTQyNn0.K38h9qHeCM7jtYLA2Z25W7ZC9NiekmvL6CkQy82szzU/img.png?width=980" id="24ad8" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="fbc76e6dc6f82d299c7828a80272eede" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="megalodon compared to a school bus" />Credit: Reconstruction by Oliver E. Demuth/Scientific Reports; Sergii Tverdokhlibov/Galyna_P/Shutterstock/Big Think
<p>Previous estimates of the megalodon's size have been based on the great white shark, which can exceed 20 feet in length — that's about half the length of an average school bus. The idea has been, essentially, that since a <a href="https://www.fossilera.com/blog/megalodon-vs-great-white-tooth-size" target="_blank">great white's tooth</a> is about 2 inches long — the biggest one ever found is 2.5 inches — and most megalodon teeth seem to be in the neighborhood of six inches — the largest one found is 7.4 inches — then the megalodon must have been about three times as big as a great white. The suggestion is that if great whites can bite with two tonnes of pressure (4400 pounds), then the megalodon's bite must have been significantly more powerful.</p><p>This may not be a completely fair comparison, however, according to one of the study's authors, <a href="https://www.swansea.ac.uk/staff/science/biosciences/pimiento-c/" target="_blank">Catalina Pimiento</a> of Swansea. She tells <a href="https://www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2020/september/megalodon.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">University of Bristol</a> that "Megalodon is not a direct ancestor of the Great White but is equally related to other macropredatory sharks such as the Makos, Salmon shark and Porbeagle shark, as well as the Great white." To arrive at their measurements the researchers, "pooled detailed measurements of all five to make predictions about Megalodon."</p><p>To try and work out the proportions of the prehistoric shark based on this larger group of contemporary sharks, the researchers investigated how their bodies change as they mature. "Before we could do anything," says co-author <a href="http://www.bristol.ac.uk/earthsciences/people/mike-j-benton/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Mike Benton</a>, "we had to test whether these five modern sharks changed proportions as they grew up. If, for example, they had been like humans, where babies have big heads and short legs, we would have had some difficulties in projecting the adult proportions for such a huge extinct shark."</p><p>It turned out, surprisingly, that though these sharks get larger as they grow up, their body proportions don't really change much. "This means we could simply take the growth curves of the five modern forms and project the overall shape as they get larger and larger — right up to a body length of 16 meters," adds lead author Jack Cooper.</p><p>Cooper has always been, as he puts it, "mad about sharks." He's worked and dived, in a steel cage, with great whites. He enthuses, "It's that sense of danger, but also that sharks are such beautiful and well-adapted animals that makes them so attractive to study."</p>The megalodon’s revised measurements
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzg0OTAwMy9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzNTM4MjA4M30.uArVFW_ithOZuZ1_oTKCg0y1-2Zue2VRD_C_j2KJVk4/img.jpg?width=980" id="98366" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="8caf88dda090ba04f0aac156e15b7a27" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="shark and diver illustration" />Credit: Reconstruction by Oliver E. Demuth/Scientific Reports
<p>The study proposes the following approximate measurements for a full-grown megalodon:</p><ul><li>Length: about 16 meters (52.5 feet). A full-size school bus is just 45 feet long</li><li>Head size: about 4.65 meters long (15.3 feet) </li><li>Dorsal fin: about 1.62 meters tall (5.3 feet). A person could stand on the back of a megalodon and be about as tall as the fin.</li><li>Tail fin: about 3.85 meters high (12.6 feet) </li></ul><p>Let's just hope this sucker is really extinct. </p>
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Study identifies animal species that may be susceptible to coronavirus
On the list of animals at risk are several endangered species.
25 August, 2020
Image source: Jorge Franganillo/Unsplash
- SARS-CoV-2 enters our cells by binding with ACE2 receptors.
- A study finds many animals may provide a similar point of entry for the infection.
- COVID-19 has already been seen in a range of non-humans.
<p>SARS-CoV-2, the novel coronavirus behind COVID-19, has proven to be a dangerously crafty opportunist that in many ways continues to baffle doctors. As of this writing, the official worldwide tally of humans who have died from it stands at <a href="https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/?utm_campaign=homeAdvegas1?" target="_blank">nearly 820,000</a>. As if that's not horrifying enough, a new study from <a href="https://www.ucdavis.edu/news/genomic-analysis-reveals-many-animal-species-may-be-vulnerable-sars-cov-2-infection" target="_blank">University of California Davis</a> finds that many other species share the disease's primary receptor. The list includes mammals, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and fish. Already at-risk old world primates and apes are among their number.</p><p>The study is published in <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/early/2020/08/20/2010146117" target="_blank">Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</a>. </p>
ACE2
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzU4MTgwMC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyMTI3NDU4NH0.BceDb6l6wcwImHgniUPCNX_F5NeJ8vSsrAWNH7DG-x0/img.jpg?width=980" id="2fb6e" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="77a7d2b0d83cfc72479f2b9089e512ac" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="3D illustration of SARS-CoV-2 binding with ACE2 receptors" />3D illustration of SARS-CoV-2 binding with ACE2 receptors
Image source: Kateryna Kon/Shutterstock
<p>SARS-CoV-2's main point of entry into our systems, its main cellular receptor, is an angiotensin converting enzyme-2 known as ACE2. There are many types of cells and tissues in humans that contain ACE2, including the epithelial cells found in the mouth, nose, and lungs. SARS-CoV-2 binds to 25 ACE2 amino acids to get into our cells.</p><p>The researchers investigated the presence of these amino acids in other organisms on the assumption that their presence would provide SARS-CoV-2 entry to their cells as they do in ours. Says first author of the study <a href="https://www.ucdavis.edu/person/articles/27275" target="_blank">Joana Dama</a> of UC Davis, "Animals with all 25 amino acid residues matching the human protein are predicted to be at the highest risk for contracting SARS-CoV-2 via ACE2."</p><p>The precise mechanism by which SARS-CoV-2 infections occur and lead to COVID-19 is still under exploration. Nonetheless, the study operates on the principle that more of the 25 amino acids an animal has, the higher its risk of infection. "The risk is predicted to decrease the more the species' ACE2 binding residues differ from humans," says Dama.</p>Which species are at risk?
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzU4MTgwMi9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYwMzA5ODY4Nn0.oZHKdhpvHJjihgp2R3E23hMotY-yazjh0vCw5S_L2F8/img.png?width=980" id="3130d" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="8edb6a4f609576554b9067ee019ab08b" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="species risk chart" />Image source: Matt Verdolivo/UC Davis
<p>Their analysis leads Dama and her co-authors to the conclusion that about 40 percent of the species at risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection are on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's <a href="https://www.iucn.org/resources/conservation-tools/iucn-red-list-threatened-species" target="_blank">"threatened" list</a>.</p><p>Sumatran orangutans, Northern white-cheeked gibbons, and the Western lowland gorillas are all critically endangered and are vulnerable to infection. Some marine animals are also at high risk, including bottlenose dolphins and gray whales.</p><p><span></span>The study asserts that many animals most likely to live among humans are apparently at low risk, including cats, dogs, cattle, sheep, horses, and pigs. Chinese hamsters carry a high risk.</p><p>It's worth noting, however, that there <em>are</em> cases on record of SARS-CoV-2 infections in <a href="https://www.statnews.com/2020/05/13/cats-can-catch-covid-19-from-one-another-study-finds-the-question-is-can-we/" target="_blank">cats</a> and <a href="https://www.aphis.usda.gov/aphis/newsroom/stakeholder-info/sa_by_date/sa-2020/sa-06/sars-cov-2-dog" target="_blank">dogs</a>. <a href="https://academic.oup.com/cid/advance-article/doi/10.1093/cid/ciaa325/5811871" target="_blank">Hamsters</a>, too. Less likely house pets like <a href="https://www.aphis.usda.gov/aphis/newsroom/news/sa_by_date/sa-2020/ny-zoo-covid-19" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer dofollow">lions, tigers</a>, and <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/06/25/882095588/dutch-minks-contract-covid-19-and-appear-to-infect-humans" target="_blank">mink</a> have also been infected.</p><p>Bats, the presumed <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2012-7" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer dofollow">source of SARS-CoV-2</a>, are found by the study to be at very low risk of infection due to a lack of ACE2 receptors. Other experimental data lines up with the study's finding, which suggests that spread of SARS-CoV-2 from bats is likely to have involved intermediate hosts en route to infecting humans.</p><p>The authors have made available for <a href="https://www.pnas.org/highwire/filestream/945399/field_highwire_adjunct_files/1/pnas.2010146117.sd01.xlsx" target="_blank">download</a> the full list of animals its authors find may be susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 infection.</p>Animal exposure to SARS-CoV-2
<p>Lead author Harris Lewin explains the importance of the research:</p><p>"The data provide an important starting point for identifying vulnerable and threatened animal populations at risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection. We hope it inspires practices that protect both animal and human health during the pandemic."</p><p>The study finds the same 40 percent of animals may also be especially likely to encounter the infection through human contact. The main locus of such interaction cited by the study is zoos. (Both the <a href="https://nationalzoo.si.edu/animals/news/covid-19-update" target="_blank">National Zoo</a> and the <a href="https://zoo.sandiegozoo.org/videos?playlistVideoId=6151893073001" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer dofollow">San Diego Zoo</a> contributed genetic material to the researchers for the study.)</p><p>Co-author Klaus-Peter Koepfli of the Smithsonian-Mason School of Conservation explains that zoo personnel already guard against such transmissions, saying, "Zoonotic diseases and how to prevent human to animal transmission is not a new challenge to zoos and animal care professionals." The study makes keeping animals and humans apart at zoos more urgent than ever, though, and "this new information allows us to focus our efforts and plan accordingly to keep animals and humans safe."</p>
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