A consideration of an ecologist who spent three decades studying rats as a method for understanding how humans might react as urban density grew.
From 1947 to 1977, John B. Calhoun, employed by the National Institute of Mental Health to study the consequences of overcrowding, built large-scale rat habitats designed to allow his subjects to display their innate social behaviors. Over time, deprived of space to expand as the population grew, the rodents’ “escalating social disorder collapsed to violent extinction.” Overcrowded conditions led to infant neglect, lower fertility rates, aggressive sexual activity, and rampant violence. Interestingly, rats who opted for social withdrawal as a survival technique were calm and healthy. Adams, a former BBC New Generation Thinker, and Ramsden, a historian of science at Queen Mary University of London, offer detailed histories of urban development, in cities like Baltimore and New York, showing how rat infestations have always accompanied human population growth. They explain when and how rats were used as models for psychological and behavioral research, as well as conclusions from various approaches to eradicating rats—i.e., poisoning is only a temporary solution. “Rats had lived in American cities as long as people had: either both belonged there, or neither did,” write the authors. When Calhoun built his first citylike habitat (the Towson enclosure) in the 1950s, he documented every detail. His 1963 book, The Ecology and Sociology of the Norway Rat (the result of two years of daily observations, followed by six years of analyzing and writing his discoveries) “was, and remains, the most comprehensive and complete account of rodent behavior ever produced.” The authors also explore biographical details, from Calhoun’s background and personal life to the evolution of his interests. More academic and less entertaining than Robert Sullivan’s Rats, this book is nonetheless comprehensive.
A largely fascinating book combining sociology, nature, and urban studies.