6th Annual Judith Ramaley Celebration of Research and Creative Scholarship
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Poster #103 Marine Mammal Play Behavior
Nicole Shanklin
Faculty Mentor: Robin Richardson Although play is a hard concept to define, it has been widely documented in many animal species. There are several explanations for why animals play, including acquiring information about their surroundings and practicing skills. Play can be separated into three different types, which can be observed individually or together. Play is common among species of marine mammals and was seen in both bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncates) and sea otters (Enhydra lutris). Bottlenose dolphins are widely associated with play and are one of the best studied species of marine mammals commonly found in aquaria and zoos. They are considered very playful animals in captivity, as well as in the wild. They engage in the three different types of play behavior and it is a big part of everyday life. Sea otters are the smallest marine mammal and live primarily on the Pacific coast. Sea otters are not as playful as bottlenose dolphins, but play behavior is still observed in both captivity and in the wild. The objective of this study was to observe play behavior in both species of marine mammals and look at the evolution of play behavior itself. This study was conducted at the Minnesota Zoological Gardens, in Apple Valley, MN. Both the bottlenose dolphins and the sea otters were observed in their respective habitats at the zoo occurring over a period of 3 months and 2 years respectively. Over the 2 year period, each sea otter had his own pattern for the percentage he was observed playing. The first otter’s time spent playing varied the most out of the three sea otters. He would gradually increase as the year went on and then decrease again when the weather started to get colder. The second otter seemed to have the greatest variation in play behavior. He was observed to be playing anywhere from 15 percent of the time during one month, to playing 0 percent during another. The third otter’s play behavior was a little more consistent than the second otter’s and never got very high. He never played more than 5 percent of the time during each month’s observations. These observations will contribute to a hypothesis on the evolutionary origin of play behavior. |
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