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#397 Gordon Burghardt: The Evolution And Function of Play

The Dissenter

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The Key Elements of Play

Play is something that animals do voluntarily or spontaneously. If the animal just goes up to an object and touches it or pushes it, that's not play. The behavior seems to occur when the animal is in a relatively safe, well-fed, non-stressed state. We see more play in captive animals that are otherwise well cared for than we do in wild time-departs where there are lots of things going on in the environment.

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