title: Early play may predict later dominance relationships in yellow-bellied marmots (Marmota flaviventris).
abstract: Play has been defined as apparently functionless behaviour, yet since play is costly, models of adaptive evolution predict that it should have some beneficial function (or functions) that outweigh its costs. We provide strong evidence for a long-standing, but poorly supported hypothesis: that early social play is practice for later dominance relationships. We calculated the relative dominance rank by observing the directional outcome of playful interactions in juvenile and yearling yellow-bellied marmots (Marmota flaviventris) and found that these rank relationships were correlated with later dominance ranks calculated from agonistic interactions, however, the strength of this relationship attenuated over time. While play may have multiple functions, one of them may be to establish later dominance relationships in a minimally costly way.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, 621 Young Drive South, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1606, USA. marmots@ucla.edu
authors.forename: Daniel T
authors.initials: DT
authors.lastname: Blumstein
authors.forename: Lawrance K
authors.initials: LK
authors.lastname: Chung
authors.forename: Jennifer E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Smith
mesh_terms: D000375:Aging; D000818:Animals; D003120:Colorado; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D008392:Marmota / Q000502:physiology*; D010988:Play and Playthings; D012919:Social Behavior; D012930:Social Dominance
references.citation: Dev Psychobiol. 1976 Nov;9(6):499-500
references.pmid: 1001835
references.citation: Q Rev Biol. 2001 Jun;76(2):141-68
references.pmid: 11409050
references.citation: Gen Comp Endocrinol. 2012 Sep 1;178(2):417-26
references.pmid: 22732084
references.citation: Nature. 2006 Apr 27;440(7088):1190-3
references.pmid: 16641996
references.citation: Behav Brain Res. 2010 Feb 11;207(1):7-13
references.pmid: 19786051
references.citation: Behav Biol. 1974 Jun;11(2):131-54
references.pmid: 4367951
references.citation: Dev Psychobiol. 1978 May;11(3):213-25
references.pmid: 658602
references.citation: Behav Brain Res. 1992 Sep 28;50(1-2):135-45
references.pmid: 1449641
references.citation: Proc Biol Sci. 2009 Aug 22;276(1669):3007-12
references.pmid: 19493901
references.citation: Z Tierpsychol. 1977 Oct;45(2):199-209
references.pmid: 602463
references.citation: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2010 Dec 14;107(50):21587-92
references.pmid: 21115836
references.citation: Behav Processes. 2006 Jul;73(1):1-12
references.pmid: 16527432
references.citation: Nature. 2010 Jul 22;466(7305):482-5
references.pmid: 20651690
references.citation: Behaviour. 1974;49(3):227-67
references.pmid: 4597405
references.citation: Ecology. 2011 Jan;92(1):218-27
references.pmid: 21560692
references.citation: Dev Psychobiol. 1988 Sep;21(6):601-12
references.pmid: 3049186
references.citation: Horm Behav. 1985 Dec;19(4):469-98
references.pmid: 3910535
references.citation: Behav Processes. 2009 Nov;82(3):286-92
references.pmid: 19635533
references.citation: Horm Behav. 1999 Oct;36(2):153-65
references.pmid: 10506539
references.citation: Q Rev Biol. 1991 Jun;66(2):129-47
references.pmid: 1891590
references.citation: Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2013 Apr 08;368(1618):20120349
references.pmid: 23569297
references.citation: Biol Lett. 2012 Apr 23;8(2):208-10
references.pmid: 21880621