Member-only story
Keep Wheel-Running in the Free Wild
Ever dreamt of escaping the rat race?
I just came across this intriguing article from the Biological Sciences section of the Proceedings of the Royal Society, as you do:
https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.1098/rspb.2014.0210
It was actually courtesy of another user on Substack, which is obviously where all the cool kids hang out these days.
And it prompted this little story, about rodents and existentialism (with apologies to Albert Camus and Neil Young).
Keep Wheel-Running in the Free Wild
The device simply appeared one day, in the middle of a clearing.
“What the hell is that?” Benjy wondered out loud.
“Must be a trap,” muttered Frankie. “Looks like some kind of cage, with a round biscuit tin inside. Transparent plastic. On its side. Strange. Suspicious. Human.”
“But there aren’t any biscuits in the tin. I’m going to have a look.”
“Don’t!” squeaked Frankie. “It’ll have a trap door. Spring-loaded mechanism. Schwannng! No more brother Benjy. Or worse — they’ll take you off to The Lab.”
“But if they want to catch us, why didn’t they put any biscuits in there? Or cheese…
