![]() ![]() This might sound like a big number but it was a mere fraction of the 3,840 the enclosure was designed to house. By Day 315, Universe 25 was home to 620 mice. The initial days in Universe 25 were marked by exponential growth, a period Calhoun referred to as the "strive period." The population doubled approximately every 55 days. So what happened to this thriving population?Īt the beginning of the experiment, Calhoun introduced eight mice-four pairs of males and females-into this environment. By day 920 the last remaining mouse died. With an unlimited supply of food and water, the mice were provided everything they needed to flourish.īut, on day 600 in this mouse paradise, the last baby was born. There were no predators in this world, and disease was minimized due to regular cleaning. The enclosure was divided into four equal sections, each with a central nesting area connected by ramps to multiple food and water dispensers. Within this space, Calhoun created what was essentially a mouse utopia. Universe 25 was a carefully designed enclosure measuring 9 feet square with 4.5-foot-high sides. One of the experiments, known as "Universe 25," attempted to understand the impact of overpopulation on behaviour and societal structures, using colonies of mice as his subjects, in a rodent Garden of Eden. Calhoun conducted a series of experiments on mice. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, ethologist John B.
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