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  • Survival Game exhibit
  • Survival Game exhibit
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Survival Game

Keep your herd alive—with a little help (maybe) from your friends.

Players struggle to keep their livestock herds alive and thriving—despite disease, drought, and other dangers. When your neighbor suffers a major loss, the question arises: Can you afford to share? But the real question may be, can you afford not to?


Where:   Osher Gallery 1: Human Phenomenon
Exhibit Developer:   David Torgersen, 2017

What’s going on?

The Survival Game is based on the lives of Maasai cow herders in Africa.

The Maasai live on milk and meat from their herds. When rains are heavy, cows have plenty of grass to eat, and herds and people alike thrive.

But when rains are poor and cows starve or get sick, herders ask neighbors for cows to tide them over. “Lucky” herders share with “unlucky” ones because they may need help in the future.

The Maasai refer to these helping relationships as osutua, or “umbilical cord.” This cooperation helps Maasai communities remain intact when disaster strikes. 

This exhibit was designed with the Human Generosity Project, a group of scientists studying osotua and other mutual aid systems around the world. 

 
Phenomena: Economic Exchange, Resource Sharing
Keywords: cooperation, human generosity project
Aliases: Cattle Game, Cows, Need-Based Transfer Economy, The Cow Game
Collections: Science of Sharing

More to explore

The Science of Sharing

Learn how scientists study social interactions at the Science of Sharing exhibition.

Science of Sharing Educator Activities
Science of Sharing Educator Activities

Explore the ideas behind Science of Sharing with these Activities.

Exhibitizing Cooperation

“No way! I lost a lot of cows last year!” is not something you’d expect to hear on the floor of a science museum.

Related exhibits

Making Meaning
Making Meaning

Discuss your interpretations of these words and images.

Text Fish
Text Fish

How are people using this shared resource?

Sort and Switch
Sort and Switch

See how fast you can assign words to categories–then switch sides and try it again. 

Team Snake
Team Snake

Work together to stay alive and rack up points.


IMLS acknowledgment

This web project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services [MA-30-16-0175-16].

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