“Dr. Calhoun’s Mousery” by Lee Alan Dugatkin

Written by

Too many mice kills the society
With eel grass, starfish live lone lives, without it, they clump together
Rats in human cities tended to self-regulate their populations
Fighting takes place on the way to the feeder, but not at the feeder itself
Hypothesis that small mammals have frequent aggressive interactions; as the interactions drop, the mammals move in the direction that is most likely to increase such interactions, thus spreading out
Generations of leisure impairs the ability to care for young
Morning songs may be how birds take a census
Dominant rats did not mind pan-sexual and homosexual rat advances on themselves
Culture helps manage the abundance of social interactions we have today
An “invisible college” allows for important topics to be discussed and foment so answers are ready when they are needed
- (This is something the internet can help with but does not necessarily)
Rats with low social velocity have more randomized patterns that might be better adapted for changing environments
Connectivity decreases entropy but adds stress

Comments