What Humans Can Learn From Calhoun’s Rodent Utopia

Between 1968 and 1970, American ethologist John B. Calhoun (1917-1995) conducted a behavioral study of captive mice within a nine-square-foot enclosure at a rural facility in Poolesville, Maryland. Within the enclosure known as Universe 25, several pairs of mice bred a population, which ultimately swelled to 2,200. Eventually, they established social orders that created inside and outside factions, and soon mating ceased altogether. The study confirmed his grim hypothesis, based on earlier studies of the Norway rat in small settings. In his theory he suggested that overpopulation spawns a breakdown in social functions. That, in turn, inevitably leads to extinction. Though wildly controversial when first made public, Calhoun’s theory has raised concern over the years that the social breakdown of Universe 25 could ultimately serve as a metaphor for the trajectory of the human race. Consequently, the “rodent utopia project” has been a subject of interest among architects, city planning councils and g