Extract from the New Omnibus Mandaean Almagest and Dataset [NOMAD] 3172 CE
Ptitseferma Biological Station
Research Station on Cabot’s Landing (NOMAD 129.683.365.120.A.3), estabilshed in 2436 CE by the Institute of Cytology and Genetics in Novosibirsk, under a grant from the Cabot Industries Trust (CIT). The purpose of the grant was to conduct experiments on seeding the planet with additional species that would be useful to the human workforce. The Institute located a research station on the Western Reserve Island on the southern coast of the Central Sea. This location was selected due to its geographic isolation from the other land masses of the planet, and, in particular, from the main island of Bountiful, where CIT maintained profitable mining operations. The research station was named Ptitseferma (chicken farm in the Archaic Russian of the researchers).
The Institute’s initial goal was to develop a sustainable ecosystem for natural human protein sources, to wit, domestic chickens (Gallus gallus domesticus) and goats (Capra aegagrus hircus). Both species were shown to thrive in the previously genetically engineered ecosystem that supported the wheat species triticum cabitorum. The Institute also introduced experimental plots of plant, amphibious, and insect species consistent with the biome of Kauri forests found on New Zealand.
In order to prevent population explosion and subsequent collapse of the new ecosystem, the Institute introduced two predator species, the so-called domestic red fox (Vulpes vulpes familiares) and domestic dogs (Canis lupus familiaris, viz., golden retrievers). The Institute of Cytology and Genetics had pioneered the domestication of the red fox in the late twentieth century, accounting for its inclusion in this project.
Surviving reports of the original research are fragmentary, but suggest that researchers expected any resulting ecosystem would have a high probability of stability. This expectation proved correct. Today, flocks of chickens and scattered herds of goats survive on Western Reserve Island, together with roaming predator foxes and packs of dogs. Kauri forests have expended from the original small, experimental plots to cover approximately eighty percent of Western Reserve Island, with the remainder being mountains and rocky terrain not suitable for the imported species.
For reasons that are unclear, the Institute also introduced domestic cats (Felis catus, viz., Abyssinians). These animals reportedly also tolerated the engineered environment, but prey (in the form of insects, chicks, and eggs) were deemed insufficient for long-term survival without human intervention.
Records for Ptitseferma Station end in 2642 at the start of the Great Disintegration, when CIT abandoned Cabot’s Landing. In 3107, HRH Imperial Cruiser Fearless arrived as part of an expedition to reclaim the planet. The various species mentioned, with the exception of cats, survived and are geographically isolated on Western Reserve Island.
While there are no reports of cats on the island, rumors persist of a small colony that survived near the east power station on the main island, Bountiful. According to the rumor, the last humans on the planet set an automated food processor at the station to produce regular portions of protein synthesized from the local triticum cabitorum and suitable for feline consumption. There is no evidence to support these rumors.
