For young male dolphins, social play provides important practice for later life skills.
Young male dolphins with strong social bonds practice adult-like reproductive behaviors when playing together.Juvenile male dolphin.Species across the animal kingdom play, suggesting the behavior has benefits. Scientists have long hypothesized a link between juvenile social play and successful adult behavior; however, evidence of such an evolutionary role for play in wild animals is limited.
Over two decades ago, researchers noticed that juvenile dolphins of both sexes spend a lot of time engaged in social play that resembles adult herding. They take turns, with one individual playing the “it” dolphin and the other animals in the group attempting to herd and make contact with them . In addition, Holmes and colleagues showed that juvenile males with strong social bonds use social play to practice joint action and that males with stronger bonds are more likely to engage in joint action when play- herding in the adult male roles together.Source: Dr. Simon Allen/Shark Bay Dolphin Research, used with permission.
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