![]() Calhoun initiated the experiment with four pairs of healthy mice, which were set loose into the enclosure to begin the new society.ĭuring the first 104 days - a phase Calhoun dubbed the "strive period" - the mice adjusted to their new surroundings, marked their territory, and began nesting. With a plague-free environment, a plenitude of comforts, a lack of predation, and an unlimited supply of consumables, the mice would enjoy all the luxuries equivalent to modern human life. In Universe 25, a population of mice would grow within a 2.7-square-meter enclosure consisting of four pens, 256 living compartments, and 16 burrows that led to food and water supplies. Universe 25: Calhoun's Experiment with a Rodent UtopiaĮxpanding on his earlier studies, Calhoun devised his ultimate research experiment. ![]() ![]() Hitting the public just as vast urban expansion saw growing numbers of college grads flocking to big cities for work opportunities, many viewed the article as a warning of what could happen to the human race if populations continued to rise at their current rate. In 1962, Scientific American published Calhoun's observations from his research in the article "Population Density and Social Pathology," wherein he coined the phrase "behavior sink" to describe the results of overcrowding - namely the breakdown of social functions and the collapse of populations - in the enclosed rodent environment. The population would trail off to extinction. ![]()
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