pets help with science fair

I thought they were pets. But when the school science fair was announced, the hamster and fish took starring roles in scientific studies.

First, it was the hamster’s owner. “I don’t know what I want to study, but I want my experiment to use Houdini.”
Houdini, our nighttime escape artist, became the object of a study forcing a change in his sleep cycles.
For several days his pattern of sleeping all day and trying to escape all night was noted. Then an artificial day was created. He was left in a well-lit room all night. In the morning, the drapes had to be closed and the lights turned off, except a specially purchased red light to help humans see.

After a couple of reversed days, Houdini didn’t care. As long as it was dark, he figured it was time to be up and at his all night task of trying to escape. After a few days that were nights, he escaped.
The experimenter was tearfully miserable. “My experiment ran away. What I am going to do about the science fair?” The panic subsided though when we realized that his escape verified the experiment’s hypothesis: That sleep-activity cycles can be artificially changed. Then tears turned to smiles – especially after Houdini wandered groggily across the floor wondering “who turned on the lights?”

Houdini ignored the ribbons brought home from the science fair as he gnawed the cage’s wire reinforcement in his bid to escape.
The fish became part of the science fair projects when their feeder realized that the fish started swimming up for food as soon as he turned on the light to watch them eat.

The tank of tropical fish suddenly became Xiphophorus maculatus (X.m.). The swim for lunch became “conditioned behavior.” The study’s controls and variables within the experiment became a legitimate reason to purchase a second aquarium.

When Pavlov rang a bell before feeding his dogs, they eventually salivated simply at the sound of the bell even when no food was present. The budding behavioral psychologist could not figure out how to observe fish salivating. So they timed how long it took them to slam on their braking fins, make a hairpin turn and head for the feeding loop after the chow time light came on.

The X.m. were pretty smart. They showed their observer that they also knew that when he opened the lid it was time to go into a feeding frenzy. Not bad for critters no more than an inch or so long.
After the X.m. owner takes the results to the state competition, we will be through with science fair for the year. I tried to help out by feeding the science fairs for the year. I tried to help out by feeding the fish when the experimenter and noting their response time. My results were discarded as inaccurate.

Oh yes, I also had to recondition my behavior to not touch the drapes in the hamster’s room during the day, or to turn of the light before going to bed. After one alarming screech, I substituted pulling the door shut instead of switching off the lights.
Do you suppose my child conditioned behavior will be studied and recorded for next year’s science fair?


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