"a researcher named John B Calhoun made a world for mice in which everything they could ever want was provided and they did not have to work for any of it. ... male mice, without a reason to defend their territory or food source (since both were plentiful) became dejected, forming cliques that randomly attacked one another for seemingly no reason. In the lead up to this, certain of the male mice began continually mating with whatever mouse happened to be around, be it male or female. Many of the mice also began to simply kill and eat one another, despite the abundance of other food sources; mothers abandoned babies, mice would crowd together in groups of 50 or more in pens designed to hold 15 individuals, while pens with plentiful bedding sat empty inches away."
http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2020/06/why-it-sucks-to-be-rich/
http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2018/12/that-time-a-guy-tried-to-build-a-utopia-for-mice-and-it-all-went-to-hell/
4 comments:
Don't forget, according to the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, mice are hyper-intelligent pan-dimensional beings who are searching for the ultimate question. Deprive them of the means to do that and there is no telling what they will do.
You will be pleased to know following my piece a while back about the resident Dormouse, that we have two young Dormice now, seen briefly a couple of times in a hollowed tree stump under a large terracotta pot.
From the wikipedia entry on Calhoun:
"After day 600, the social breakdown continued and the population declined toward extinction. During this period females ceased to reproduce. Their male counterparts withdrew completely, never engaging in courtship or fighting and only engaging in tasks that were essential to their health. They ate, drank, slept, and groomed themselves – all solitary pursuits. Sleek, healthy coats and an absence of scars characterized these males. They were dubbed "the beautiful ones." Breeding never resumed and behavior patterns were permanently changed."
Remember the pretty young males in Cyprus?
@ Wiggia: how lovely!
@ P: only because the young females were guarded by their families until marriageable; not let loose like the potential victims of f-em-and-forget-em types, or our modern grooming gangs.
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