How the Zergs were Made

Chapter 773 Cosmic Experiment No. 25

Earth

May 23, 1973

Maryland, USA

When did it die?

Professor Calhoun, not so long ago...

While muttering about the experiment, the two trotted towards their laboratory, a farm warehouse.

They climbed to the second floor of the farm warehouse and lifted a black curtain, revealing a large boxy box measuring 2.57 meters long and 1.37 meters high.

This is a utopia, the utopia of the rats—universe 25.

Universe 25, built by John Calhoun and his experimental co-workers, is the perfect abode for a mouse.

In the 16 living areas evenly divided by the center of the box, each has its own drinking fountain, food storage, and resting nest.

According to the design calculation, only when the number of rats exceeds 3840, there will be a shortage of nests, when there are 6144 rats, water resources will be insufficient, and when there are 9500 rats, food will become a problem.

In addition, the first eight mice introduced into the residence were screened for diseases to ensure that the experiments in the residence would not be mistaken due to foreign diseases.

The temperature of the residence itself is also kept between 20C and 31C by fans and heating to ensure that the temperature is not the cause of the problems in universe 25, and besides that, universe 25 does not have any natural enemies of rats.

There are no natural enemies, no diseases, no hunger, no living problems in the world, and all possible causes of population decline are excluded.

John Calhoun wanted to know whether the hand of God, which suppressed the population of rats, would still appear in his utopian world, as it had done in past experiments.

John Calhoun held up the body of the male mouse with trembling hands, and the answer was revealed.

God appeared!

The cosmic experiment on the 25th lasted for 1780 days. The last male mouse died, and the mice completely lost any possibility of reproduction.

John Calhoun recalls the beginning of the experiment...

July 9, 1968, Day 1 of Cosmos Experiment 25. Four male rats and four female rats were released into the habitat.

After these little mice got familiar with the utopia of universe 25 after spending 3 months, they each settled down, began to divide their own territories, and then began to choose mates and mate.

After the 104th day, universe 25 ushered in the birth of the first litter of mouse pups.

Subsequently, the number of experimental mice increased almost exponentially.

From the 100th day to the 300th day, the population of mice will double every 55 days on average, 20, 40, 160, 320, 640, and the birth rate will not slow down from 55 days to 620. 145 days to start doubling.

From the 86th day to the 338th day, this time period is the most frequent period for mice to be born.

With the surge in the number of mice, John Calhoun and his colleagues noticed some phenomena, that is, the number of mice born in each territory was not equal, although all territories were evenly divided from the center in a radial manner.

The territory in the northeast corner gave birth to only 13 mice in 252 days, while the opposite southwest corner gave birth to 111 mice, 8.5 times as many.

This is the law of the jungle, only the strong are worthy of mating rights, and it will be easier to give birth to offspring.

The experiment has been very normal so far. Whether it is breeding or dividing the territory, it is the same as what John Calhoun and the others thought before conducting the experiment.

With the end of the population explosion stage, universe 25 entered a slow stage.

From the 315th day, the number of mice doubled from 55 days to 145 days, and the number of experimental mice reached the peak of 2200 in the whole experiment.

However, this result is exactly the problem. Universe 25 would theoretically need 3,840 rats to experience nest shortages, and 6,144 rats to experience water shortages.

There is no shortage of water, no shortage of food, no disease, no natural enemies, and a big enough world, but when the number has not exceeded the limit to carry the number, this mouse utopia is full.

It's like an invisible hand of God is suppressing the number of experimental rats - John Calhoun thought so.

why?

Is there really a god?

Of course not, everything was developed reasonably, and the suppression of the number of rats comes from themselves. This is the conclusion drawn by John Calhoun after summarizing the experiment.

Although Universe 25 has plenty of living space and food, it is overwhelmed by the social responsibilities of the rats.

In nature, there are not many opportunities for adult mice to die old. Those adult mice will take over the burden of the elders and become the role of protecting the territory, protecting the females, and multiplying offspring.

When the number of adult mice living in a territory exceeds the number required for the territory, these adult mice will move out to develop new territories. However, these two points are impossible in universe 25. .

After adulthood, the little mice who couldn't find their place in the mouse society fell into confusion, and the male mice who didn't belong to any territory began to gather in the center of universe 25.

These little mice gradually did not socialize with any other mice, ignored each other, and gradually showed violent tendencies.

Usually, a mouse that disturbs other people just because it came back from eating will suddenly become the target of the attack, and the attacked will not try to escape or fight back, but when other mice come to disturb its tranquility, it will be attacked. Or become extremely violent.

Female pups who also couldn't find a place in society chose to live in seclusion in the higher nests that the females who gave birth to young mice would not choose. There were no signs of violence in them, and no signs of socialization. Like hermits isolated from the world.

As the number of mice with nowhere to go increases, the male mice who are responsible for protecting the territory become less and less aware of their territory, but for the female mice, the reduction in territorial protection is I realized that the chances of my breeding nest being violated are getting higher and higher.

The concept of territory is gradually weakened, and the aggressiveness of the female rats who are responsible for feeding has become stronger and stronger, and even directly replaced the male rats that should be responsible for protecting the territory. This aggressiveness is not only for outsiders, the female rats The aggressiveness of the rats gradually shifted to their own offspring. Many young rats who have not been weaned have also become the targets of female rats, and they will even be expelled from the nest and become the new generation prematurely.

Afterwards, the pups' menstrual periods were disrupted, their conception rates dropped, and even the number of babies born per litter dropped.

During the frequent transfer of nests by the females, many pups were forgotten and abandoned, and many pups disappeared between each counting.

It is for these reasons that the birth rate of the mice has decreased, so that it has completely stopped.

Everything is reasonable, a social problem triggered a series of chain reactions, leading to the destruction of universe 25, the newborn rats could not find their own social position, cut off social interaction, refused to give birth, and abandoned their cubs ...

But is this really the case?

In a river system thousands of light-years away from the earth, an alien civilization that is many generations higher than the earth's technology has also done a similar experiment. They used a river system to create a utopia belonging to civilization. The seeds of civilization were also sown in this utopia...