Functional relationships between early play behavior and adult dominance roles in yellow-bellied marmots (<i>Marmota flaviventris</i>)
Abstract
Play has been defined as apparently functionless behavior, yet since play is costly, it must have some function (or functions) to outweigh its costs. We provide the strongest evidence for a long-standing, but poorly supported hypothesis: that early play is practice for later dominance relationships. We calculated the relative dominance rank by observing the directional outcome of playful interactions in both pup and yearling yellow-bellied marmots (Marmota flaviventris) using the Clutton-Brock index. We found that these play rank relationships were highly correlated with later dominance ranks calculated from agonistic interactions, which leads us to suggest that while play may have multiple functions, one of them can be to establish later dominance relationships in a minimally costly way.
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References (24)
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