Re: Play and spikes

[Rich Travsky <rtravsky@UWYO.EDU>]

On Thu, 11 Jul 1996 martin@hpentccl.grenoble.hp.com wrote:

> We say that calves "play" at escape tactics, or at courtship rituals,
> or whatever, but their adult courtship behaviour is for example, no
> more complex than that of, say, spider courtship. So it seems to me to
> give "play" a "usefulness" factor is just wishful thinking for
> something we observe but cannot find a justification for. And so we
> attribute it to "more intelligent" animals.  I don't see crows taking
> over the birdy world and geese suffering because of it.  I therefore
> hold it has no real value, and was probably unnecessary for dinos, as
> it still is for a lot of species.

That the bird's brain, given its size and everything, indicates to me
that we don't have to require a lot of brain power to have play
behavior. So it seems to me not out of the realm of possibility for dinos
to have engaged in play. (Which is a different thing from saying they did.)

> [...]

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