Adults Play but Not Like Their Young: The Frequency and Types of Play by Belugas (Delphinapterus leucas) in Human Care

Abstract

While play occurs in many taxa with younger conspecifics engaging in play behaviors more often than older conspecifics, little empirical research currently exists on play by white whales, or belugas, (Delphinapterus leucas). The purpose of the current study was to explore the types of play exhibited by a group of belugas in human care. Archived video footage representing 24.5 hours of observation time collected over three years for 14 belugas (5 immature and 9 adults) was coded for type, frequency, and duration of all play events. Out of 2,092 play events, the belugas produced 497 bouts of play and preferred to engage in independent forms of play (92%) as opposed to coordinating their activities together (8%). Immature belugas exhibited four times as many play bouts (n = 405) compared to adult play events (n = 92) and included motor play, water play, and object play as well as some social interactions (e.g., play chases). When compared to all types of play, play with objects represented 50% of the bouts, and when the degree of diversity of play was considered all belugas showed more diversity with environmental enrichment devices (EEDs) present (83% of diverse play bouts) than when exhibiting motor or water play. Age and sex of the belugas also influenced the type of play (i.e., motor, water, or EEDs) exhibited during different degrees of complexity of play bouts (i.e., single events, repetitive bouts, diverse bouts, and complex cooperative social play). When sex of the beluga was considered, males appeared to prefer to engage in motor play while females appeared to prefer to engage in object play during single play events (males: n = 68, 64%, females: n = 55, 52%) and repetitive bouts (males: n = 18, 62%, females: n = 20, 54%). Some complex cooperative play bouts between immature belugas and between immature and adult belugas (n = 42, 10%) were observed. Play bouts involving EEDs lasted significantly longer (M = 55.38 sec, s = 2.85) and produced greater diversity in play behaviors for all belugas combined. In summary, belugas of all ages engage in spontaneous play behaviors, but the age and sex of each beluga produce different play preferences.

Play and optimal welfare: Does play indicate the presence of positive affective states?

“…Bond and Diamond, 2003;Pellis and Iwaniuk, 2000), age (e.g. Hill and Ramirez, 2014), and sex 9 (e.g. Barrett et al, 2014;Chau et al, 2008).…”

Environmental changes and anthropogenic factors modulate social play in captive bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus)

“…These marine mammals demonstrate a great variety of play activities: for instance solitary or social activity, locomotor actions, predatory activity and object play, they play with objects they find or objects they make (e.g., bubble production in beluga whales, Delphinapetrus leucas (Delfour & Aulagnier, 1997) and in bottlenose dolphins ) (see Hill & Ramirez, 2014 for a review).…”

“…Cetaceans play behavior involves the modification and/or the imitation of a behavior, or the repetition of the player's own activity. These marine mammals demonstrate a great variety of play activities: for instance solitary or social activity, locomotor actions, predatory activity and object play, they play with objects they find or objects they make (e.g., bubble production in beluga whales, Delphinapetrus leucas (Delfour & Aulagnier, ) and in bottlenose dolphins (Kuczaj et al, )) (see Hill & Ramirez, for a review). Subadult and juvenile male wild bottlenose dolphins have been observed participating in social play, including body contacts and sexually oriented behaviors in small groups (Connor et al, ).…”

Learning to play: A review and theoretical investigation of the developmental mechanisms and functions of cetacean play

“…Cetaceans may also self-strand during play (i.e., beaching), such that an animal beaches itself by boosting its body partially out of the water and onto a beach, sloped, or flat surface. Cetaceans in both their natural habitats and managed care have been observed engaging in intentional stranding play (Guarino, Hill, & Sigman, 2016;Guinet, 1991;Guinet & Bouvier, 1995;Hill, 2009;Hill & Ramirez, 2014;Paulos et al, 2010). Bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) in managed care have been observed to beach themselves on docks as early as 2 years 3 months of age, after observing their mothers perform the same behavior (Paulos et al, 2010), and belugas and killer whales in managed care spontaneously beach themselves as early as 3 months of age (Guarino et al, 2016;Hill, 2009;Hill & Ramirez, 2014).…”