Thursday, July 22, 2010

What is the name of the rat population experiment where they reached carrying capacity and all died?

I learned about it in biology, but I can't remember the name of it, or who conducted it. All I remember is that it was an experiment about a rat population. It was basically a rat utopia, and they had constant access to fresh water and food and there wasn't any waste build-up, and yet, all the rats died anyway. Does anyone know the name of it, or at least who conducted it? It would really help a lot. Thanks :)

What is the name of the rat population experiment where they reached carrying capacity and all died?
I can't answer your question, but before teachers were stopped from teaching I had a junior high school teacher who copied it with mice. We put a group of mice in a large wooden box, kept it clean, and provided a constant supply of water and food. Nothing happened for several months except there were more and more mice.Then in January after Christmas break there were no more babies. The females either had spontaneous abortions(got pregnant then reabsorbed the babies), or didn't care for the babies when they were born and ate them. Our environment had reached it's maximum carrying capacity.


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