Animal Welfare: Could Adult Play be a False Friend?

There is no consensus regarding the functions of play.As play behavior is a characteristic of young stages of development, it has been suggested that the higher prevalence of adult play observed in domestic animals could be the result of their "neotenic retardation."Functional hypotheses have dealt with the long term benefits, such as "rehearsal," "motor training" for future adult competencies or "training for the unexpected."However, there is...