Hole G
Department of Psychology, University College London.
Dev Psychobiol. 1991 Mar;24(2):117-33. doi: 10.1002/dev.420240205.
Litters of laboratory rats (Rattus norvegicus) were filmed between 21 to 60 days of age, and data on 700 social play bouts obtained. These were analyzed for information on how play bouts ended and on the spatial relationship between the players and their physical environment. The results suggest that social play in this species (a) does not appear to be a covert means of securing priority of access to resources such as food, females, or territory; and (b) does not appear to represent practice for behaving in the contexts within which "serious" adult aggression occurs (e.g., practicing being "territorial," etc.). Players showed a strong preference for playing close to cover and away from exposed areas; if this is also true for wild rats, it would minimize the potential costs of play in terms of increased conspicuity to predators.
对一窝窝实验大鼠（褐家鼠）在21至60日龄期间进行拍摄，获取了700次社会玩耍行为的数据。对这些数据进行分析，以获取有关玩耍行为如何结束以及参与者与其物理环境之间空间关系的信息。结果表明，该物种的社会玩耍行为：（a）似乎不是确保优先获取食物、雌性或领地等资源的隐蔽手段；（b）似乎也不代表在“严重”的成年攻击行为发生的情境中（例如，练习“捍卫领地”等）的行为练习。参与者表现出强烈的偏好，即在靠近遮蔽物且远离暴露区域的地方玩耍；如果野生大鼠也是如此，那么就可以将玩耍因更容易被捕食者发现而增加的潜在成本降至最低。
