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Psychotic Lab Mice
meltoast writes "We send lab mice through a maze to see their reactions and then take that information and apply it to our knowledge of the human psyche. Well, what if those mice are completely out of their minds? Discover recently ran an article showing that mice kept in a standard laboratory environment may be crazy. 'In one sequence, a mouse climbs the stainless-steel walls of its cage, hangs from the ceiling by its forelegs while gnawing on the bars, then drops to the floor, only to repeat the process endlessly. On the other side of the cage, a second mouse performs backflips, one per second, for up to 30 minutes at a time.'"
Credits to D.Adams
It wouldn't surprise me if the mice are insane from lack of stimulation. People get the same way when they're cooped up and take up all sorts of repetitive psychotic behaviors. It's a self-protection method for the brain I believe, keeping itself occupied in some endless task rather than concentrating on its continuously uninteresting environment and going crazy.
I guess that would mean the mice are showing (possibly) insane behavior because the behavior is a a symptom of a deteriorating mind in a last-ditch effort to save itself.
Stop the Slashdot Effect! Don't read the articles!
On the other side of the cage, a second mouse performs backflips, one per second, for up to 30 minutes at a time.
In my back yard my sister performs flips on a trampoline for up to 60 minutes at a time. My brother jumps into a body of water, only to get out and do it again for up to 45 minutes at a time.
My point is, unless you want to get inside of their head, or ask them why they are doing what they are doing, we can't say it's abnormal behavior. To an "alien in space" (who knows nothing of human "culture") someone jumping on a trampoline, or someone jumping into a pool over and over again may seem pointless and that we are out of our minds. Just a thought. I'm sure the mice are just keeping themselves busy.
This behavior bears a disturbing resemblance to my former cubefarm cellmates.
My
Limekiller
My point is, unless you want to get inside of their head, or ask them why they are doing what they are doing, we can't say it's abnormal behavior. To an "alien in space" (who knows nothing of human "culture") someone jumping on a trampoline, or someone jumping into a pool over and over again may seem pointless and that we are out of our minds. Just a thought. I'm sure the mice are just keeping themselves busy.
Don't human psychiatric workers keep track of how many times their inmates masturbate as a measure of frustration and stress? And don't soldiers who are exposed to heavy enemy fire on a daily basis usually succumb to self-manipulation 10+ times a day?
So are these mice jerking themselves silly or what? Just doing flips over and over isn't a sure sign of going nutso. Maybe they're just staying in shape! But if these cameras are capturing these mice reaching down between their legs a lot (or maybe rubbing their groins against every object in their cage), then I think we have a rock-solid case!
GMD
watch this
Hmmm. It's scary how many of these behaviors also apply to slashdot trolls:
A) These activities consume up to half of the creatures' waking hours, every single day.
I'm sure they spend about half their time in front of the computer either reading, posting, or thinking of new offensive, off-topic things to say on slashdot.
B) The affected animals also exhibit other deficiencies and obsessive behaviors.
You mean like hitting "refresh" on the slashdot home page every 1-2 minutes so they can get first post?
C) The entire lifestyle of these creatures is wildly altered by the addition of something as simple as a cardboard tube to their cages.
The entire day of these creatures is wildly altered by something as simple as a fellow slashdotter replying to their message, not realizing it wasn't serious.
GMD
watch this
They're Pinky and The Brain
Yes, Pinky and The Brain
One is a genius
The other's insane.
They're laboratory mice
Their genes have been spliced
They're dinky
They're Pinky and The Brain, Brain, Brain, Brain
Brain, Brain, Brain, Brain
Brain.
Before each night is done
Their plan will be unfurled
By the dawning of the sun
They'll take over the world.
They're Pinky and The Brain
Yes, Pinky and The Brain
Their twilight campaign
Is easy to explain.
To prove their mousey worth
They'll overthrow the Earth
They're dinky
They're Pinky and The Brain, Brain, Brain, Brain
Brain, Brain, Brain, Brain
Narf!
Its not uncommon for mice to wheel-- its akin to a kid riding a block. They get rid of excess energy and its fun for them.
ITs also not uncommon for mice to climb cages and knaw on the bars-- they don't know they aren't wood, and this is also fun behaviour.
But Backflips--or in other cases - random jumps are a sign of serious stress. As I understand it, in these laboratory situations they keep dozens of mice in a tiny area-- and mice are a socially sensitive animal. That is to say, they react to overcrowding, have stress, etc.
I think these mice are being abused, and the people doing it should go to hell. Fucking assholes. You're going to experiment on mice, its your responsibility to treat them decently.
Mice are like any common pet-- they react to pain, can be scared, can be stressed and need some private space.
Yeah, and you guys panned the ipod too: http://apple.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=01/10/23
Gnawing on the top of the cage is a lot more fun than gnawing on the sides. Mice have to gnaw on something hard to cut their teeth - otherwise they get too big - rodent teeth grow continuously. As for backflips, well, if you could do backflips all afternoon, and you had nothing better to do, would you or would you not do backflips?
These mice aren't crazy. They just need some entertainment!
There was a point in the article when it occured to me that the phrase, "Research causes cancer in laboratory rats." was not a joke.
Is to handle each mouse weekly so that handling during experiments doesn't stress them out. I've been in rooms of hundreds of mice caged 3 to a feederbox and sorted by age and sex. The behaviors mentioned are few and far between unless they're beeing inbred or are knock outs that are more prone to psychosis.
I've hit Karma 50 and gotten a Score:5, Troll... I win!
and I bet this applies to rats as well (which are, biological, just very big mice). I have some pet rats and a big cage, but normally they just run around in my living room... and they really love to run around.
When I have them in their cage for more than, say, three days they grab their bars like some prisoners and stare at me with very sad eyes :-) After some days they can really get depressed.
So now normally mice and rat cages in laboratories are way smaller than mine is (I know since a friend of mine works in a laboratory with rats). And they are not allowed to run around. When my rats get depressed after a few days, then I have no doubt most mice/rats get crazy after some months.
Imagine having nothing more than your living room to walk around, your whole life... oh wait, we geeks know that very well ;-)
On the other side of the cage, a second mouse performs backflips, one per second, for up to 30 minutes at a time.
Did anyone else think of making a clock with this
Only me? Okay then...
It is certainly important to gain more insight into this issue, but it is a very complicated one. The vast majority of researchers are fairly limited in funding, and the costs of maintaining colonies of mice is already very expensive (for example, at my institution caring for about 300-500 mice is around $4000-$5000 per month). While there is probably much validity to Wurbel's argument, it unfortunately becomes a question of cost -- enriched housing conditions would probably be out of the limits of most researchers budgets. Scientists should probably settle on a happy medium - those doing research into behavior should definitely consider these issues; however, they may be less essential for researchers trying to understand the functions of specific genes known to be involved in processes other than neural ones, because the cost would simply be too high.