Animal Welfare: Could Adult Play be a False Friend? (original) (raw)
Related papers
On the significance of adult play: what does social play tell us about adult horse welfare?
Naturwissenschaften, 2012
Play remains a mystery and adult play even more so. More typical of young stages in healthy individuals, it occurs rarely at adult stages but then more often in captive/ domestic animals, which can imply spatial, social and/or feeding deprivations or restrictions that are challenging to welfare, than in animals living in natural conditions. Here, we tested the hypothesis that adult play may reflect altered welfare states and chronic stress in horses, in which, as in several species, play rarely occurs at adult stages in natural conditions. We observed the behaviour (in particular, social play) of riding school horses during occasional outings in a paddock and measured several stress indicators when these horses were in their individual home boxes. Our results revealed that (1) the number of horses and rates of adult play appeared very high compared to field report data and (2) most stress indicators measured differed between 'players' and 'non-players', revealing that most 'playful' animals were suffering from more chronic stress than 'non-playful' horses. Frequency of play behaviour correlated with a score of chronic stress. This first discovery of a relationship between adult play and altered welfare opens new lines of research that certainly deserves comparative studies in a variety of species.
Play behaviour in nonhuman animals and the animal welfare issue
Journal of Ethology, 2010
The mission of defining animal welfare indicators is methodologically difficult, limited, and possibly impossible. A promising alternative, however, to evaluate suitable environmental conditions is the assessment of play behaviour. In the present review, we summarise the general aspects of play behaviour in nonhuman animals and propose its use as a potential indicator of animal welfare. Play behaviour probably occurs in most vertebrates and some invertebrates, but predominately in mammals. It is also more frequent in young males and is associated with the environmental context in which animals find themselves. Animals play if they are healthy and well-fed, but not if they are under stressful conditions or if they are in a stressful state. We can therefore use the prevalence of play behaviour as an indicator of suitable environmental conditions, considering the specificity associated with the above-mentioned modifying factors.
Play and Welfare in Domestic Cats: Current Knowledge and Future Directions
Animal Welfare, 2022
Play and welfare have long been linked within animal research literature, with play considered as both a potential indicator and promoter of welfare. An indicator due to observations that play is exhibited most frequently in times when an animal's fitness is not under threat and when immediate needs such as food, water and adequate space are met. And a promoter, because of observations that animals who play more also have better welfare outcomes. However, limited research has been undertaken to investigate this link, especially in companion animals. The domestic cat (Felis catus) is one of the most popular companion animals in the world, yet little is known about the impact of play behaviour on cat welfare. We review the current literature on play and welfare in cats. This includes examining the role of cat play in mitigating negative welfare outcomes, such as reducing problem behaviours, one of the leading reasons for guardian dissatisfaction and cat relinquishment to shelters. Play is also discussed as a potential tool to provide environmental enrichment and to improve cat-human relationships. Future areas for research are suggested. We find that further research is needed that uses a multifaceted approach to assess how quantity, type and quality of play impact subsequent cat behaviour and welfare. Future research could also assess cat play needs and preferences as well as investigate the role of play in mitigating threats to cat welfare such as reducing problem behaviour and improving human-cat relationships. If play is an indicator and promoter of welfare, studies into the impact of play may offer an accessible approach for monitoring and improving domestic cat welfare.
Animal play and animal welfare
Play has long been identified as a potential welfare indicator because it often disappears when animals are under fitness challenge and because it is thought to be accompanied by a pleasurable emotional experience. But animal play is a vexing behavioural phenomenon, characteristically flexible and variable within and between species, with its proximate mechanisms and ultimate functions still not fully understood. Its relationship to animal welfare is therefore complex and merits a focused theoretical investigation. We review evidence on four aspects of the playewelfare relationship: first, that play indicates the absence of fitness threats; second, that play acts as a reward and flags up the presence of opioid-mediated pleasurable emotional experiences; third, that play brings immediate psychological benefits and long-term fitness and health benefits, and thus improves current and future welfare; and finally, that play is socially contagious and therefore capable of spreading good welfare in groups. On this basis, we argue that play does indeed hold promise as a welfare indicator and also as a tool to improve it; but we also point to difficulties in its study and interpretation, and identify some unresolved questions. As a welfare indicator, play may signal both the absence of bad welfare and the presence of good welfare, thus covering a wide range of the welfare spectrum. However, play can also increase in stressful situations, in response to reduced parental care, or as a rebound after a period of deprivation and therefore does not consistently reflect favourable environmental conditions. A better fundamental understanding is needed of the varied ultimate functions and proximate mechanisms of play, and the species-specific play patterns of captive animals, in order to be able to explain exactly what an animal's play behaviour tells us about its welfare state, and whether and how play might be applied as a tool to improve welfare. Ó
Immediate and Delayed Benefits of Play Behaviour: New Evidence from Chimpanzees ( Pan troglodytes )
Evidence for the anticipation of competition at feeding time has been previously documented in both Pan species. Chimpanzees seem to cope with competitive tendency through behavioural mechanisms of tension reduction, and grooming is certainly one of these. Social play and grooming are often matched because they bring animals into close physical contact for long periods, and they have an important role in social cohesion. Our goal was to investigate the occurrence of play behaviour during the pre-feeding period, before a basic maintenance activity is about to take place, in the chimpanzee colony housed in the ZooParc de Beauval (St Aignan sur Cher, France). The group was composed of 10 adults and nine immature individuals. By scan animal sampling (344 h of observation), we recorded play and grooming interactions in all age-class combinations during four different periods (pre-feeding, feeding, post-feeding, control). We found peak levels of grooming interactions among adults during the pre-feeding time. A peak frequency at the pre-feeding time was also found in social play between adults and unrelated immature subjects. This finding suggests that during high tension periods, grooming and play might share similar functions in conflict management. Like grooming, play might have an important role to limit aggression and increase tolerance around food (immediate benefits). Immature animals showed a higher frequency of play in the pre-feeding than in any other condition (feeding, post-feeding, and control). During high excitement periods social play probably represents a safe mechanism for immature subjects to test their personal abilities (self-assessment), the strength/weakness of playmates, and the degree of cooperation/competition with them (social-assessment). In the light of this new evidence, we can assert that play behaviour is far from being a purposeless activity, at least in the chimpanzee colony under study.
Play does not enhance social cohesion in a cooperative mammal
Animal Behaviour, 2005
The social cohesion hypothesis of play asserts that the adaptive function of social play is to strengthen affiliative ties between group members, thereby increasing cohesion within the social group. Although this hypothesis is frequently cited, it has never been quantitatively tested. I used data collected from a wild population of cooperative mongoose (the meerkat, Suricata suricatta) to test four predictions arising from the hypothesis: first, that an individual's frequency of play, and mean number of play partners, will be positively correlated with group size (because individuals in large groups must strengthen ties with a greater number of animals); second, an individual's frequency of play will be positively related to frequency of other affiliative interactions such as allogrooming; third, an individual's frequency of play will be positively correlated with level of contribution to cooperative group activities (based on the assumption that individuals that are closely bonded to their group will invest more heavily in the group than those with weak ties); and finally, an individual's frequency of play will be positively correlated with duration of tenancy in the natal group. The behaviour of young meerkats failed to fulfil any of these predictions, and I conclude that social play is unlikely to have the capacity to promote social cohesion in mammals.
Behavioural Processes, 2015
Among the Carnivora, play behaviour is usually made up of motor patterns characteristic of predatory, agonistic and courtship behaviour. Domestic dogs are unusual in that play is routinely performed by adults, both socially, with conspecifics and with humans, and also asocially, with objects. This enhanced playfulness is commonly thought to be a side effect of paedomorphosis, the perpetuation of juvenile traits into adulthood, but here we suggest that the functions of the different types of play are sufficiently distinct that they are unlikely to have arisen through a single evolutionary mechanism. Solitary play with objects appears to be derived from predatory behaviour: preferred toys are those that can be dismembered, and a complex habituation-like feedback system inhibits play with objects that are resistant to alteration. Intraspecific social play is structurally different from interspecific play and may therefore be motivationally distinct and serve different goals; for example, dogs often compete over objects when playing with other dogs, but are usually more cooperative when the play partner is human. The majority of dogs do not seem to regard competitive games played with a human partner as "dominance" contests: rather, winning possession of objects during games appears to be simply rewarding. Play may be an important factor in sociality, since dogs are capable of extracting social information not only from games in which they participate, but also from games that they observe between third parties. We suggest that the domestic dog's characteristic playfulness in social contexts is an adaptive trait, selected during domestication to facilitate both training for specific purposes, and the formation of emotionally-based bonds between dog and owner. Play frequency and form may therefore be an indicator of the quality of dog-owner relationships.
Play behavior and exercise in young ponies ( Equus caballus L
Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 1977
Play behavior of young ponies accounted for two-thirds of total running exercise and over 95% of all high-speed turns in ten animals from birth to age six weeks. The classical supposition, never previously demonstrated, that most exercise of young mammals occurs in play, is confirmed in these subjects.
Adult-Adult Play in Primates: Comparative Analyses of its Origin, Distribution and Evolution
Ethology, 2000
Comparative analyses were conducted on a data set derived from the literature so as to test several hypotheses which were developed to explain the distribution of adult±adult play ®ghting within the order primates. Ratings for play occurring in sexual and non-sexual contexts were developed. Three hypotheses were evaluated: (i) that play occurring in non-sexual social contexts is a byproduct of its use in sex; (ii) that the occurrence of play is related to its use for social assessment and manipulation, and so is more likely to be present in species with reduced familiarity between individuals; and (iii) that phylogenetic aliation in¯uences the likelihood that species within clades engage in play. We used independent contrasts to test the ®rst two hypotheses, and both were signi®cant, with the presence of play in sexual contexts accounting for 14±16% of the variance of play in nonsexual contexts, and reduced social familiarity accounting for 30±40% of the variance in the occurrence of play in non-sexual contexts. To test the third hypothesis, we mapped the occurrence of both types of play onto known phylogenies. The overlap was not congruent, indicating that phylogenetic relationships did not account for the distribution of play. Given that play in both sexual and non-sexual contexts was more likely to occur in species with a social organization involving reduced frequency of contact between the sexes and other social group members, we suggest that the likely adaptive value of play ®ghting is as a tool for social assessment and manipulation. The possible factors that mitigate the use of play ®ghting for these purposes, such as the availability of other forms of communication that could serve similar functions, are discussed.