Play Behavior in Crocodilians

Abstract

-Play behavior in crocodilians is not uncommon, but it remains virtually undescribed in scientific literature. I present the first overview of play behavior of three types (locomotor play, object play and social play) in crocodilians based on original observations, published reports and anecdotal evidence. Object play is the type most often reported; social play can include interactions with conspecifics and mammals. Apparently, play behavior is not particularly rare in crocodilians, but is underreported due to the difficulties of observing it and interpreting the observations. In the most comprehensive overview of play behavior in various animal taxa to date, Burghardt (2005) listed two published and three unpublished observations of apparent play in crocodilians, and suggested that such behavior would be reported more commonly if the animals were regularly observed under right conditions. So far, this prediction has been only partially correct in terms of published reports. As the number of crocodilians kept in captivity increased, and their behavior became the focus of much attention due to its previously underestimated complexity (Dinets, 2014a; Doody, Burghardt, & Dinets, 2012), observations of play became more frequent, and its occurrence is now common knowledge among zoo keepers and crocodile farm personnel (A. Britton, personal communication, 2013; J. Brueggen, personal communication, 2014; S. Mukerjee, personal communication, 2013). However, despite numerous unpublished personal observations, no new reports of such behavior have appeared in scientific literature. Many aspects of crocodilian behavior remain poorly known due to their rare occurrence and to the difficulty of observing predominantly nocturnal predators (Dinets, 2014b), but in the case of play, an additional problem appears to be that people witnessing such behavior consider their observations unworthy of publishing or unlikely to be taken seriously. Here I provide an overview of play behavior in crocodilians, compiled from my own observations and a variety of published and unpublished sources. I use the three-way classification of play (locomotor play, object play, and social play) as typically used in animal play research (Fagen, 1981). Materials and Methods