In a brand-new paper titled āPlay Behavior in Crocodilians,ā Vladimir Dinets argues that not only do crocodiles play, but that they play in varied and complex ways. This may come as a shock to many people, used to thinking of reptiles as cold-blooded and emotionless- particularly crocodiles, which look like theyāve got nothing but murder on their minds 24/7. But looks can be deceiving.
Now, to be clear, Dinetsā paper is not a formal study, and leaves plenty of room for argument that crocodilians (a group that includes crocodiles, alligators, caimans, and others) do not actually play. In fact, though the researchers spent roughly 3,000 hours observing crocodiles for other studies, they only recorded seven instances of play. The other instances were anecdotes collected from crocodile keepers and farmers.
Any good scientist knows that anecdotes donāt provide conclusive proof of anything, but they are a good starting point. And the anecdotes are fascinating. They include tales of crocodilians surfing the waves, attacking (and courting) rubber balls, picking pink flowers, and even giving piggyback rides to other crocodilians. There are even reports of crocodiles playing with humans (Pocho the crocodile, pictured above, is mentioned) and one instance of an alligator playing with an otter.
These are all incredibly charming, of course, but it is quite possible to argue that they are not play. Firstly, what play actually is has been famously hard to define, and many animal behaviors once termed play have been found to have actual adaptive functions. For example, before it was known that male fireflies flashed to attract mates, early researchers thought it was for the sheer pleasure.
There is a lot we do not know about crocodilian behavior, in part because they are so different from mammals, right down to the metabolism. Frivolous activity is harder to justify when you are not warm-blooded and need to be more careful about conserving energy. And as with the fireflies, behaviors that apparently have no adaptive purpose can turn out to be performed for specific goals.
So do crocodiles play or not? My hunch is that they do, though probably not nearly as often or even in the same ways that mammals might. There is no conclusive evidence yet to confirm this. Still, of all the things that might interest a crocodile, I bet you never thought of āpink flowers.ā
Dinets, V. (2015). Play behavior in crocodilians. Animal Behavior and Cognition, 2(1), 49-55.
(This paper came out with perfect timing, because I am now writing an extensive article on the weird enigma of animal play. It should be out in the next couple of weeks!)
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