Kim_MacMillan
Posted : 3/18/2008 7:11:29 PM
Okay, as a start:
I think that play, indeed, has a crucial role in social species in learning required life skills. It involves learning how to hunt, learning how to cooperate with others, learning how to communicate and treat other animals of your social group, it even involves some early practice in learning about mating and bonding. It also provides an outlet for healthy growth to strengthen muscles and maintain flexibility and fluidity. There's no question (in my mind) that play in young animals is preparatory for adulthood in some manner.
However, I begin to see distinctions. For example, domestic animals, humans, and many social mammals, maintain play well into adulthood and even throughout their entire lives until death. Dogs, dolphins, cats, humans, primates, and some birds, are the best known. I think within this scope it goes beyond preparatory skills and more into another realm, because at some point the animal doesn't need to "prepare" anymore. And I think play itself sort of "matures" as the animal matures, such that it takes on a different motivation. Some of that motivation may be to act out some of their natural behaviour patterns. I mean, you can see some of the basic predatory patterns in the way dogs play, with the areas in which they grab (rear legs, necks, muzzles), the way they play tug (it's almost all about the social interaction, not about the competition). You can see how the dogs switch "roles" from being the jumper and the jumpee. The way a dog chases down and kills its toys, or retrieves its toys in a modified predator pattern. I think that is just how dogs do tend to play, as it's part an parcel of who they are. It would be strange if dogs starting doing bunny hops or trying to blend in with trees as a measure of play *G* Obviously the style of play will be indicitive of the species engaging in the play.
So it can still take on the role of acting out innate needs, but there are also aspects of it that don't totally match up with that as well. Certain behaviours that occur that don't tend to match up with predator prey interactions, such as one dog enticing another dog to play tug in the first place. A dog playing keep away, while daring the other dogs to "try" to take what it has. Dogs dropping things at the feet of another dog to engage in play. Dogs playing chase just for the fun of it (after all, as predators, dogs shouldn't really enjoy "being chased" naturally), and taking turns chasing each other. So many aspects of play just don't take on the role of what you would consider innate action patterns or preparation for survival skills, as a lot of things dogs do in play really don't come in handy during times of actual need *G* They seem to be reserved only for play, and not for any other aspects in their lives.
I just think that play in dogs goes a lot further than simple preparatory actions, because dogs play for their entire lives. Some would relate that to the neotenization of the dog, in that they are more puppylike compared to their wild counterparts. Even so, there is I think something to be said for animals that continue to play well into the late years of their lives, that goes beyond simple predator/prey dynamics, I think it's more complex than that. I certainly don't have the answers...haha....play is something that still stumps researchers in many fields, but I have fun thinking it over and trying to come up with some ideas. I find it especially intriguing because dogs have such a need for play throughout their lives, as it actually matches up more closely with the primates and humans (or dolphins - all considered higher-order species) than it does with their own wild counterparts, who basically only play the way that they do during puppyhood.