is an extended response question and should be at least 200 words Consider the f
ID: 62342 • Letter: I
Question
is an extended response question and should be at least 200 words
Consider the following scenario. You suddenly realize that you have a population of mice living in your attic. You do not want to put out traps or poison, so you decide to get a cat. The cat is fast; however, the cat is not as fast as the very fast mice. There are a total of 20 mice living in the attic. Of the 20 mice, 10 are very fast, 5 are medium fast, and 5 are very slow.
A few weeks pass, and there are fewer mice; however, you still have some mice in the attic. After a few months, it seems that there are even more mice than there were to begin with. Why do you have more mice than you did when you first bought the cat? Why do we not see situations such as this happening in humans as often as we see them in other organisms?
Explanation / Answer
The twenty mice mate with each other. In the first few weeks, the cat gets the victory. In the second generation, the mice get to know the cat. The progeny of the very fast mice survive. This is called survival of the fittest.
The rest are killed. These very fast mice mate with each other and produce very fast mice whcih the cat cannot catch.
Mice are animals with a short lifespan. So the duration of pregnancy is also short. In addition, mice lay about 6-8 babies at a time. These babies get mature within 4 weeks of birth. These newly mature mice then again mate to produce more young. So, in each cycle, the number of mating adults increase. This totally increases the population of the mice.
In humans, such situations cannot be seen. Firstly, it takes time for a human to evolve or get a new trait. IT takes years or decades. Secondly, the human babies take years to get matured. Third, a couple usually produces only a single baby at a time. Twins and triplets are rare. Also, the lifespan of a human is long compared to mice.
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