Animal Play: Evolutionary, Comparative and Ecological PerspectivesMarc Bekoff, John A. Byers Why do animals play? Play has been described in animals as diverse as reptiles, birds and mammals, so what benefits does it provide and how did it evolve? Careful, quantitative studies of social, locomotor and object play behavior are now beginning to answer these questions and shed light on many other aspects of both animal and human behavior. This unique interdisciplinary volume brings together the major findings about play in a wide range of species including humans. Topics about play include the evolutionary history of play, play structure, function and development, and sex and individual differences. Animal Play is destined to become the benchmark volume in this subject for many years to come, and will provide a source of inspiration and understanding for students and researchers in behavioral biology, neurobiology, psychology and anthropology. |
Contents
The evolutionary origins of play revisited lessons from turtles | 1 |
Play in common ravens Corvus corax | 27 |
Object play by adult animals | 45 |
Kangaroos at play play behaviour in the Macropodoidea | 61 |
Intentional communication and social play how and why animals negotiate and agree to play | 97 |
The structurefunction interface in the analysis of play fighting | 115 |
Sparring as play in young pronghorn males | 141 |
Squirrel monkey playfighting making the case for a cognitive training function for play | 161 |
Self assessment in juvenile play | 183 |
Biological effects of locomotor play getting into shape or something more specific? | 205 |
Neurobiological substrates of play behavior glimpses into the structure and function of mammalian playfulness | 221 |
Play as an organizing principle clinical evidence and personal observations | 243 |
| 261 | |
Other editions - View all
Animal Play: Evolutionary, Comparative and Ecological Perspectives Marc Bekoff,John A. Byers No preview available - 1998 |
Common terms and phrases
activity adult males aggression agonistic Animal Play Australian magpie Behav Bekoff Biben biology birds brain Burghardt Byers canids captive Caro cognitive context display dominance relationships dopamine Eastern Grey Kangaroos ecology effects Ethology evolutionary example Fagen females form of play functions of play individual infant initiated intentional interactions involved juvenile rats Kaufmann 1974a locomotor play macropodoids Macropus robustus Macropus rufogriseus mammals Marc Bekoff motor patterns motor training nelsoni neural object play observed occur ontogeny Panksepp partner preferences Pellis & Pellis performed Pigface play behavior play bouts play fighting play partners play signals playful potoroids precocious courtship predation Press prey primates pronghorn ravens Red Kangaroos Red-necked Wallabies reptiles ritualised fights role reversal rough and tumble self-handicapping serious fighting sexual Siviy social play sparring matches species squirrel monkeys subordinate tactics threat signals turtles types of play Watson & Croft wrestling yearlings young Zool
Popular passages
Page 240 - Morgan, JI, and Curran, T. (1991). Stimulus-transcription coupling in the nervous system: involvement of the inducible proto-oncogenes fos and jun.