Even at the peak of the population, some 20 percent of nesting beds were unoccupied. Demographers warn that humans might succumb to similar aberrations if world population should ever exceed some imaginary, optimal “maximum.” Others like Kubań point out that the mice utopia fell apart well before the mouse enclosure was full. The “behavioral sink” of self-destructive conduct in Calhoun’s experiment (which he replicated on numerous subsequent occasions) has since been mostly interpreted as resulting from crowded conditions. Calhoun’s study showed, leads to self-extinction. Utopia (when one has everything, at any moment, for no expenditure) prompts declines in responsibility, effectiveness and awareness of social dependence and finally, as Dr. The life skills necessary for survival faded away. The young mice never observed such actions and never learned them. Though they looked inquisitive, they were in fact, very stupid.īecause of the externally provided abundance of water and food, combined with zero threats from any predators, the mice never had to acquire resources on their own. These mice, however, could not cope with unusual stimuli. All appeared as a beautiful exhibit of the species with keen, alert eyes and a healthy, well-kept body. ![]() They never involved themselves with others, engaged in sex, nor would they fight. Calhoun called these individuals “the beautiful ones.” Their time was devoted solely to grooming, eating and sleeping. Other young mice growing into adulthood exhibited an even different type of behavior. About the final stages of the mouse utopia, Kubań writes, Jan Kubań, a personal friend of mine from Warsaw and a Polish biocybernetician, considers Calhoun’s experiment “one of the most important in human history.” He created The Physics of Life website where he elaborates on the meaning and significance of the ethologist’s work. The last thousand mice to be born tended to avoid stressful activity and focused their attention increasingly on themselves. Deviant behavior, sexual and social, mounted with each passing day. Aberrations included the following: females abandoning their young males no longer defending their territory and both sexes becoming more violent and aggressive. The turning point in this mouse utopia, Calhoun observed, occurred on Day 315 when the first signs appeared of a breakdown in social norms and structure. But after 600 days, with enough space to accommodate as many as another 1,600 rodents, the population peaked at 2,200 and began to decline precipitously-straight down to the extinction of the entire colony-in spite of their material needs being met with no effort required on the part of any mouse. “I shall largely speak of mice, but my thoughts are on man,” he would later write in a comprehensive report.Īt first, the mice did well. ![]() Image Credit: Public Domain (via Smithsonian Magazine)Ĭalhoun’s intent was to observe the effects on the mice of population density, but the experiment produced results that went beyond that. It seems like a win-win, so maybe a welfare state can work after all. In fact, my loving domination is a condition for the free stuff. My two rat terriers get free food and free health care, though I am not only their provider, but I am also their “master” too. Moreover, for the most part, they seem to like it. ![]() Our personal pets live in a sort of welfare state. Readers should view what I present here as a prod to thought and discussion and not much more. Because they require knowledge beyond my own, I cannot offer definitive answers. These are fascinating questions that I am certainly not the first to ask. What would happen if animals in the wild could count on human sources for their diet and never have to hunt or scrounge? What if, in other words, we humans imposed a generous welfare state on our furry friends? Would the resulting experience offer any lessons for humans who might be subjected to similar conditions? Not having to work for food and shelter sounds appealing and compassionate, doesn’t it? Studies have shown that panhandling animals have a shorter lifespan. It transforms wild and healthy animals into habitual beggars. The National Park Service’s website for Sleeping Bear Dunes in Michigan advises,
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