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. It was a mouse utopia.Ĭalhoun’s intent was to observe the effects on the mice of population density, but the experiment produced results that went beyond that. He provided all the food and water they needed and ensured that no predator could gain access. Calhoun, best known for his mouse experiments in the 1960s when he worked for the National Institute for Mental Health.Ĭalhoun enclosed four pairs of mice in a 9 x 4.5-foot metal pen complete with water dispensers, tunnels, food bins and nesting boxes. One of the more famous ethologists in recent decades was John B. This is an area illuminated by ethology, the scientific study of animal behavior. Perhaps the human/pet welfare state works because one of the parties has a brain the size of a golf ball or a pomegranate. It seems like a win-win, so maybe a welfare state can work after all.
#Mice utopia experiment free#
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, Signs in national and state parks all over America warn visitors, “Please Don’t Feed the Animals.” Some of those government-owned parks provide further explanation, such as “The animals may bite” or “It makes them dependent.” To what extent do the mouse utopia lessons apply to humans? Calhoun, best known for his mouse experiments in the 1960s.
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