Among sheep, males tend to die earlier than females and are more susceptible to parasitic worms that infect their gastrointestinal tracts. In experiments several years ago, Wilson's colleagues gave some sheep drugs to eliminate the infections. In his own analysis of the results, Wilson found that the mortality rates of treated males and females evened out.There were some studies suggesting that males tended to have more parasites than females, but there didn't seem to be any consistent pattern emerging.
So, Sarah L. Moore and Kenneth Wilson, began reviewing the scientific literature for any data that document the incidence of parasitism in male versus female mammals. The researchers ended up with more than 350 reports detailing infections with worms, arthropods, and single-cell parasites. From that bounty of data, Moore and Wilson discerned a clear pattern: In mammals where the males are larger than the females, the males suffer more parasitic infections
After weeks and weeks of research Sarah L. Moore and Kenneth Wilson noted that females are more susceptible to parasites. In those species like bats and rats (that rymes), the female bats and rats are bigger than the male bats and rats, (the female are larger than the male). That indicates that in the end, its not the sex, its the size, that matters, Sarah L. Moore and Kenneth Wilson concluded.
It's not clear yet why being bigger poses a greater risk of infection, but there are several theories. First, species in which males are much bigger than females are usually ones in which males intensely compete for or defend mates. That behavior may leave the males weaker and more vulnerable to infection. Second, growing big may simply involve the tradeoff of having a weaker immune system. Third, being large may increase exposure to parasites because bigger animals forage farther, eat more, and present larger targets. Accordind to the article my hypothesis was right. this article was long very long I got it out of the Science News magizene and this the shortest summary I can come up with. This relates to what we learned in class because we did learn about parasites and how they are dangerous to us, I also learned that never walk around in the street bare foot I do that alot Mr. Wenzel thaught me that.
What I learned?
