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A scientist created a 'utopia' for mice and then they all started dying

The results are fascinating, but are they relevant to humanity?

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How could Mouse Heaven go so terribly wrong?

In 1968 John Calhoun, a scientist and animal behavioralist, decided to create a "utopia" for mice. It would have unlimited food and water, with beautiful nesting spaces and plenty of materials for the mice to make cozy homes with. Sweet experiment! the mice were probably thinking. Much better than the Maybelline trials we're used to.

However, there was a catch, of course. There was one thing the utopia would be lacking, and that would be physical space. As the mouse population grew, overcrowding would become an issue, and Calhoun wanted to study the problems this would potentially cause. That sound you hear is the collective sigh of the disappointed mice who were stoked about the 24/7 all-you-can-eat buffet.

The experiment, dubbed Universe 25, began when Calhoun introduced four mouse "couples" into the utopian complex. A year or so later, it was overrun and the conditions had turned hellish, even though the mice had not run out of food or water.

mouse, mice, animals, science, research, studies"The conditions had turned WHAT?"Giphy

Initially, for just the eight original mice, the square box Calhoun built included 256 nesting boxes (or apartments) stacked on top of one another. Water bottles and food dispensers were located all along the nesting spots, and mice could travel throughout the complex at will via mesh tunnels. The starter mice were also screened for diseases and the population was obviously protected from predators. The climate was controlled and comfortable. Conditions were perfect.

The first mouse pups showed up a little over three months later, with the population of the colony doubling every 55 days. Nineteen months later, there were 2200 mice living inside the box. With such perfect surroundings, the infant mortality rate was practically zero, leading to the rapid rise in numbers.

mice, mouse experiments, scientific research, animal experiments, overpopulationJohn Calhoun poses with his rodents inside the mouse utopia.Yoichi R Okamoto, Public Domain


By month 19, this rodent utopia had become an overcrowded hellscape. Calhoun noticed three alarming trends, in particular.

In short, everything was devolving into chaos and the very society of the mice began to collapse at a rapid rate.

The "Beautiful Ones" and the "Dropouts": Mice have a complex social hierarchy ruled by dominant alpha males. Sam Kean of Science History Institute Museum & Library notes that, in the wild, non-dominant males (the ones who lose macho showdowns) can skip town and start over somewhere else. But in the close quarters of Calhoun's experiment, with nowhere to hide, they were forced to hang around and viciously battle with each other over scraps. Eventually, non-dominant male mice, which Calhoun called the "Beautiful Ones," withdrew from society completely and only ate, slept, and groomed themselves.

Though resources were unlimited, certain aggressive males hoarded them anyway: The alpha males ruled over everything in the once-utopian mouse society. They kept harems of females in the apartments to mate with and fought fiercely to defend their territory. But new waves of hungry young male mice kept coming and coming, and eventually even the most dominant alphas abandoned their posts. This led to more attacks on nursing females, which in turn led to more mothers kicking their pups out of the nest early.

Birth rate declined dramatically: With the non-dominant males giving up completely and focusing on #SelfCare, dominant males too exhausted from endless battles, and females sick and tired of it all (many became asexual hermits by the end), stopped mating and giving birth entirely. Once this happened, the society was doomed. Even with plenty of food still available, cannibalism was rampant.

Calhoun was not shy about drawing parallels between his research and humanity. "I shall largely speak of mice, but my thoughts are on man, on healing, on life and its evolution," he once wrote.


mice, mouse experiments, scientific studies, universe 25, sociology, overpopulationAlpha male mice, anyone? Photo by Kanashi on Unsplash

There are aspects of his wild experiment that certainly sound familiar.

We live in a world with plenty of resources for everyone, but a few select people hoard more than their fair share. When you think of the rodent "apartments," it's hard not to picture densely packed urban environments where people are stacked on top of each other at every turn. Maybe on some level some of us can relate to the “Beautiful Ones” and their urge to not participate in all the ugliness and just sequester and groom themselves. You can make an argument that when the mice stopped having to worry about food and shelter, it removed the element of challenge from their lives and left them lost–like many of us are lucky enough to not have to wonder where our next meal comes from, and maybe that has something to do with our never-ending search for meaning. Some even go so far as to link more people choosing to delay having children, or not have children at all, with the collapsing society of the mice.

But Calhoun's work has also been heavily scrutinized, with some claiming it's based on shaky science. And in the end, there’s the small matter that humans are not mice. We are infinitely more complicated, and so much better suited to adapting to our environments. Kean writes, "Ultimately Calhoun’s work functions like a Rorschach blot—people see what they want to see."

It's fascinating and thought-provoking nonetheless.

How does an octopus say "cheese"?

Presumably it sounds like a muffled underwater version of "Silly humans, bow down to your cephalopod overlords," but I can't say that we'll ever know for sure.

What we do know for sure is that an octopus named Rambo has mastered the art of the f-stop and is now selling her own original photographs to visitors at the New Zealand aquarium she calls home.


"Lights! Camera! Tentacle!" GIF via Sony New Zealand/YouTube.

Like many talented artists, this eight-armed savant is, erm, also a bit of a diva.

"On day two, she pulled the camera off, ripped it up, smashed it to bits and spat it out,"behaviorist Mark Vette recalled. "We realized how powerful she was."

They went through a dozen iterations of the camera case before they settled on one that was strong enough to withstand her tentacled fury. (That's also how she got her name.)

"What is this cheap plastic crap? They don't make cameras like they used to." GIF via One News/TV New Zealand.

Fortunately, Rambo's creative endeavor is sponsored by Sony, who happily provided her with a new TX30 camera in the aftermath of her artistic outburst. You can even check out a whole gallery of her work on their Facebook page, allowing you'll have to forgive the occasional stray tentacle sneaking into the frame.

(In other words: Yes, this was originally part of a cross-promotional marketing opportunity, but that doesn't make it any less cool.)

"Make love to the camera, baby, yes, that's right. You're a natural!" GIF from Sony New Zealand/YouTube.

Rambo's not the only pictorially inclined marine mollusk either.

In March 2015, an octopus at Middlebury College turned the lens on his scientific observers. A digital media producer at the school visited a neuroscience laboratory where students were studying the clever creature. Mostly, they wanted to know if an octopus could learn by observing the actions of other octopuses.

But when they placed a GoPro in his tank, the octopus decided to turn things around and observe his own observers.

"No photos 'til I've had my coffee." GIF via Benjamin Savard/The Washington Post.

"I was just trying to brainstorm different ideas of how to show off the kind of unique research that's going on here and in ways that would be engaging," one of the students told The Washington Post. "I think the octopus's timing was great. I was just in the right place at the right time."

This all begs the question: How do octopuses even see?!

The obvious answer is, of course, with their eyes. Which is true. Ish. But like most things involving octopuses, the answer is much weirder and much more fascinating than that.

Unlike us lowly humans with our feeble brains that serve as central processing stations for our entire fragile bodies, octopus tentacles are capable of functioning as their own independent nervous systems. That's right: Each of those squirmy limbs with the suckers on the bottom basically have a mind of their own.

"Don't hate me 'cause I'm beautiful." GIF via Sony New Zealand/YouTube.

And just beneath the surface of the skin, those writhing minds are covered in cells called chromatophores, each of which is kind of like its own little painter's palette. These chromatophores can change color, which is how the octopus camouflages itself to lash out at unsuspecting passersby.

But they also contain opsins, the same light-sensitive proteins that are found in eye retinas. Which basically means that octopus skin can sense light and color without any help from the creature's brain.

That's right, they "see" with their freakin' tentacles!

"Oh no! The humans are catching on to us! Must escape!" GIF via Sony New Zealand/YouTube.

Honestly it's not entirely clear just how clever this specific photo-taking endeavor really is. But still!

Rambo was trained, like animals often are, using a food reward system. And her subjects all stand in a designated photobooth, within the range of the stationary camera. Obviously she's helped along by that handy autofocus feature, too — although that shouldn't necessarily be a slight against her intelligence, considering that most humans rely on that as well.

"What is 'art,' anyway? What does it truly mean to see, or to express oneself? Is art driven by intention, or the manifestation of the subconscious?" — a philosophtopus, probably. GIF via One News/TV New Zealand.

But that shouldn't detract from the fact that octopuses are weird, complicated, fascinating creatures, and we should consider ourselves lucky to share this wonderful planet alongside them.

Check out this behind-the-scenes video of Rambo the Octographer at work:

You're probably familiar with Koko, the famous gorilla who knows sign language.

Whether it's her recent comments about climate change or the various times she's adopted kittens to raise as her own, Koko is one impressive ape — and a humbling example of just how humanlike the animal kingdom can be.

(She also has her fair share of vocal detractors, just like her human celebrity counterparts. Because apparently some people aren't impressed by a gorilla who can communicate with humans.)


Not actually Koko, but a family of western lowland gorillas nonetheless. Photo by Pascal Walschots/Flickr.

Does Koko understand the detailed and complex scientific concepts behind climate change? Probably not. Was her response in a recent video on the topic encouraged, edited, and maybe even scripted? Sure.

But who cares? Koko knows more than 1,000 words in American Sign Language! She has pets that she cares for! And, oh yeah, she's completely changed the way we think about what's possible in terms of animal intelligence.

And Koko isn't the only animal to show signs of self-awareness.

Obviously we can't look into a living brain to decide if it has a higher consciousness. But we can observe from the outside whether an organism can roughly acknowledge, "Oh, maybe that other gorilla wanted that banana 'cause he was hungry, and now he's sad, and I kind of understand what that would be like."

This is generally referred to as "Theory of Mind" — the ability to recognize the self and empathize with others. When we recognize this trait in animals like Koko, it means we have some kind of demonstrative evidence these animals see themselves in others' shoes — that they can project and understand the beliefs and desires of others.

Again, just because an animal possesses Theory of Mind doesn't mean their thought processes are as highfalutin as us self-important human-types. But that's OK; there's still a lot that they can teach us — about ourselves and our brains and the world around us.

Here are five more species that act surprisingly human.

1. Chimpanzees

Photo by Matt King/Stringer/Getty Images.

Apes in general are closely related to humans on the evolutionary ladder, but gorillas like Koko aren't the only intelligent ones. Chimpanzees tend to be the go-to subjects for studying primate consciousness and with some pretty remarkable results.

One chimp, Washoe, learned more than 350 words of American Sign Language and even taught some to her son — without any human intervention.

There was also Lucy, who was raised from birth by a human family and became well-known for her proclivity toward gin and tonics and her clever use of household appliances to aid in her — ahem — extracurricular enjoyment of Playgirl magazine. (Which sounds kind of funny until you realize what it says about psychological abuse and captivity.)

2. Octopuses

The octopuses are coming for your World Cup. Photo by Patrik Stollarz/Getty Images.

Also known plurally as "octopode" and "octopii," octopuses haven't technically been observed to demonstrate "consciousness" or self-awareness in the ways that we lowly humans usually define them. (This normally involves plopping an animal in front of a mirror to see if it recognizes its own reflection, but that's kinda hard to do with an underwater creature that doesn't see the same way we do.)

But octopuses have been known to learn through observation and use their suckers to unscrew jar lids from the inside and can solve a Rubik's Cube faster than you, so we probably just don't have the tools to comprehend their vastly superior intelligence, and we should really just bow down to our tentacled overlords and pray that they have mercy when they finally rise from the depths to destroy us.

Also they're adorable (scientifically speaking).

3. Elephants

Although they have yet to master the art of ear-powered flight (Disney lied to us!), elephants do have the biggest brains on the planet, which is part of why they have such remarkable memories and even have the ability to distinguish between human genders and ethnicities.

On top of that, elephants have also shown a surprising knack for artistic prowess by painting with their trunks — and brushes aren't the only tools they can use, either. Granted, there has been some moral debate about the treatment of these elephant painters in captivity. But if it makes you feel any better, they've also been known to intentionally screw with humans who are trying to test their intelligence, and I always appreciate an animal that can stick it to the man.

4. Bottlenose dolphins

Fun fact: Dolphins actually have more complex brains than humans.

Perhaps this higher cognitive ability is why so many humans seek their help in dolphin-assisted therapy as well as dolphin-assisted childbirth. Sure, there's no real proof for the effectiveness of either practice — but hey, if that's your thing, go for it.

Like humans, dolphins are one of the only animal species that's known to have sex for pleasure. Well, probably; there's some question about what "sex for pleasure" entails exactly, and I already made the mistake of googling "dolphin sex" once today.

Dolphins, too, have been observed to trick their own human trainers and actually have their own complete translatable language, even if we can't whistle quite they do.

(They also have a legal right to privacy in the state of New Jersey, though I'm not sure if that says more about dolphins or New Jersey.)

5. Crows

Don't be fooled by their diminutive size: The brains of crows (and other birds in the corvid family) are proportional in size to those of primates. This means they're capable of complex reasoning — to the point that some researchers believe them to be as clever as the average 7-year-old human.

This could explain why crows tend to make friends with children in exchange for gifts. Unfortunately, there is no kindergarten system for corvids (that we know of), and thus, no one to teach the clever birds that stealing from other birds and hiding your own stashes of food so that others won't find it (suggesting that they understand the desires of others) is not the best moral practice.

Then again, a plurality of crows is called a "murder," which is insidious enough without them pulling the elaborate cons of human children. Did I mention they know how to create and use their own tools?

Take my advice: Don't mess with a murder.

All of these animals are capable of higher consciousness, just like us.

It's easy to project human feelings onto our pets. After all, most animals do experience basic evolutionary emotions like hunger, fear, and pain, so it's not that big of a step to imagine them understanding individual desires and complex issues.

But the animals above go much, much farther than that. And while it might seem cute and cuddly to think of other critters acting like we do, we can also learn a lot about ourselves by studying the animals who are close to catching up. 

Except for octopuses, I mean. When it comes to them, all that we can really do is wait until they conquer Earth and hope we live to tell the tale.  ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯