
This was called the "equilibrium" period. The third period, consisting of three hundred days, found the population of mice leveling off. As the population increased, most mice associated eating and drinking with the presence of others. Although each living unit was identical in structure and opportunities, more food and water was consumed in some areas. The population of the mice doubled every sixty days. The next period lasted about two hundred and fifty days.

Territories were established and nests were made. Within the first one hundred days, the mice went through the period Dr Calhoun called, "strive".

To see how Dr Calhoun's mouse universe grew, we use the familiar population graph again. In effect, the mouse universe simulated the present situation of the continually expanding population of humans. Factors which normally control population growth such as predation by owls and cats were eliminated. In this sixteen cell mouse habitat, utopian conditions of nutrition, comfort and housing were provided for the potential population of over three thousand mice. In a unique experiment that took years to complete, Doctor Calhoun used white mice to study population growth and its effects on individual behaviour. Transcript from the film Mouse Utopia Experiment on Youtube: Sleek, healthy coats and an absence of scars characterized these males. They ate, drank, slept, and groomed themselves – all solitary pursuits. Their male counterparts withdrew completely, never engaging in courtship or fighting. During this period females ceased to reproduce.

There was no shortage of food or water or nesting material. The "tunnels" gave access to nesting boxes, food hoppers, and water dispensers. Each side had four groups of four vertical, wire mesh "tunnels". The universe was a 9-foot (2.7 m) square metal pen with 54-inch-high (1.4 m) sides. In July 1968 four pairs of mice were introduced into the Utopian universe. Calhoun, "Death Squared: The Explosive Growth and Demise of a Mouse Population" Proc. The number of mice in the Calhoun's experiment

Mouse experiment utopia movie#
