Mice, Eggs, Birds, Lucille Ball

[sj@io.com (Steve Jackson)]

ljmac@magna.com.au (Lee J. McLean) writes:

> On May 5th, 1996, John Bois wrote:

>> I am buying a mouse tomorrow.  All it gets are eggs.  I'll let you
>> know how the mouse gets by.

>Or at least I certainly hope you're having us on. I cannot accept
>cruelty to animals for the sake of an idea for which there is
>absolutely not a shred of evidence whatsoever.

Ahh. Thank you for clarifying this. Does "cannot accept" mean that you
will forever think evil of the researcher, or that you will disbelieve
the result whatever it is, or both? How much evidence would be
required for you to accept this experiment? How much more evidence
would be required for you to accept an experiment where we also
subjected the mouse to I LOVE LUCY reruns, just for the hell of it?
Colorized?  ;-)

(jeer mode off)

Actually, it sounds very interesting. However, the researcher has to
make sure the mouse is clear on the concept "there is food in that
shell." One could start by presenting broken eggs in concert with the
mouse's regular diet, to make sure the mouse likes egg or at least
considers it food. Then present cracked, leaking eggs. Then let the
mouse work up an appetite and present a whole egg. The mouse now has
motive and opportunity, making it arguably a fair test of means.

What will it prove? Not a damn thing other than to tell us either "A
mouse can crack a hen's egg," or alternatively "This mouse did not
crack a hen's egg even under circumstances where it was motivated to
do so." And since we are arguing about that point, well . . .

Experiment is almost always better than blue-sky argument.

I have been told - don't know if it is true, but I've been told - that
rats learn that steel cans contain food, and gnaw through them. That
is interesting, Of course, cans have edges, and are therefore more
gnawable by far.

Another point: why is it always assumed that the hypothetical
egg-eaters were mammals? Birds ramified in the Cretaceous, and they
come equipped with really spiffy egg-crackers, and they can get away
much faster if caught in the act. (I think this point has been made
before in this thread; I'm making it again.) Substituting birds for
mammals, of course, doesn't kill off the mosasaurs or the ammonites
. . .

 Steve Jackson - yes, of SJ Games - yes, we won the Secret Service case
Learn Web or die - http://www.io.com/sjgames/ - dinosaurs, Lego, Kahlua!
          The heck with PGP keys; finger for Geek Code. Fnord.