Relaxed Open Mouth reciprocity favours playful contacts in South American sea lions ( Otaria flavescens )

Llamazares-Martín, Clara; Scopa, Chiara; Guillén-Salazar, Federico; Palagi, Elisabetta

doi:10.1016/j.beproc.2017.04.007

Cited by 21 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…In South American sea lions, for example, the duration of each play session was positively affected by the amount of reciprocity of relaxed open-mouth displays performed by the players. The reciprocation was particularly high during dyadic encounters, when the players had the highest probability to engage in face-to-face interactions (Llamazares-Martín et al 2017b).…”

Section: Llamazares-martín Et Al 2017b)mentioning

confidence: 97%

Not just for fun! Social play as a springboard for adult social competence in human and non-human primates

Palagi

2018

Behav Ecol Sociobiol

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Play is one of the most difficult behaviours to quantify and for this reason its study has had a very rocky history. Social play is ephemeral, difficult to distinguish from the other so called "serious" behaviours, not so frequent (especially in sexually mature subjects), fast and complex to describe.Due to its multifaceted nature, it has often been considered as a wastebasket category that has included all kinds of the behaviours not showing any immediate, obvious goal. Yet, play is widespread across the whole primate order and can have a strong impact on the development of cognitive, psychological and social skills of many species, including humans. Unlike functional behaviours that are specifically and economically performed to reduce uncertainty and to increase the opportunity to gain resources, play seems to introduce and increase uncertainty, creating new challenges for the animals. For this reason, social play has been hypothesized to be the engine of behavioural innovation in ontogeny.From the first mild and gentle interactions with the mother to the most sophisticated play fighting sessions and acrobatic action sequences with peers, play represents for juveniles (and not only for them!) a window onto the social and physical environment. In this review, I focus on social play and its relation to adult social competence. By playing, juveniles acquire competence to manage interactions with conspecifics, enlarge their social networks, and test their physical power and motor skills (i.e., long-term benefits). At the same time, I propose the view that play -due to its plastic and versatile nature -can be used in an opportunistic way, as a joker behaviour, throughout life to strategically obtain short-term or immediate benefits. I put forward the hypothesis that, during ontogeny, the joker function of play can be modulated according to the differing inter-individual relationships present in the diverse societies characterizing the primate order.

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Section: Llamazares-martín Et Al 2017b)mentioning

confidence: 97%

Not just for fun! Social play as a springboard for adult social competence in human and non-human primates

Palagi

2018

Behav Ecol Sociobiol

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“…One of the typical context-dependent signals is the relaxed open mouth or play face (van Hooff and Preuschoft 2003; Davila-Ross and Dezecache 2021), a facial expression present in several primate and non-primate species (e.g. American black bear, Ursus americanus, Henry and Herrero 1974;domestic dogs, Canis lupus familiaris, Palagi et al 2015; South American sea lions, Otaria flavescens, Llamazares-Martín et al 2017a;ring-tailed lemurs, Lemur catta, Palagi et al 2014;Norscia and Palagi 2016;Barbary macaques, Macaca sylvanus, Preuschoft 1992; lowland gorillas, Gorilla gorilla gorilla, Palagi et al 2007;chimpanzees, Pan troglodytes, Palagi 2006;bonobos, Pan paniscus, Palagi 2008). The play face is used to express positive emotions and anticipate the affiliative nature of the behaviours that are going to be enacted (i.e.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The face never lies: facial expressions and mimicry modulate playful interactions in wild geladas

Gallo

Zanoli

Caselli

et al. 2022

Behav Ecol Sociobiol

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Play fighting, the most common form of social play in mammals, is a fertile field to investigate the use of visual signals in animals’ communication systems. Visual signals can be exclusively emitted during play (e.g. play faces, PF, context-dependent signals), or they can be released under several behavioural domains (e.g. lip-smacking, LS, context-independent signals). Rapid facial mimicry (RFM) is the involuntary rapid facial congruent response produced after perceiving others’ facial expressions. RFM leads to behavioural and emotional synchronisation that often translates into the most balanced and longest playful interactions. Here, we investigate the role of playful communicative signals in geladas (Theropithecus gelada). We analysed the role of PF and LS produced by wild immature geladas during play fighting. We found that PFs, but not LS, were particularly frequent during the riskiest interactions such as those including individuals from different groups. Furthermore, we found that RFM (PF→PF) was highest when playful offensive patterns were not biased towards one of the players and when the session was punctuated by LS. Under this perspective, the presence of context-independent signals such as LS may be useful in creating an affiliative mood that enhances communication and facilitates most cooperative interactions. Indeed, we found that sessions punctuated by the highest frequency of RFM and LS were also the longest ones. Whether the complementary use of PF and LS is strategically guided by the audience or is the result of the emotional arousal experienced by players remains to be investigated. Significance Statement Facial expressions and their rapid replication by an observer are fundamental communicative tools during social contacts in human and non-human animals. Play fighting is one of the most complex forms of social interactions that can easily lead to misunderstanding if not modulated through an accurate use of social signals. Wild immature geladas are able to manage their play sessions thus limiting the risk of aggressive escalation. While playing with unfamiliar subjects belonging to other groups, they make use of a high number of play faces. Moreover, geladas frequently replicate others’ play faces and emit facial expressions of positive intent (i.e. lip-smacking) when engaging in well-balanced long play sessions. In this perspective, this “playful facial chattering” creates an affiliative mood that enhances communication and facilitates most cooperative interactions.

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“…Therefore, aggressive interactions are not limited to adults, as female aggression towards pups and infanticide attempts by sub-adult males have also been reported 38,49 . Therefore, the aggressive propensity characterizing the species 35 can make each animal, independent of the role it takes in an agonistic encounter or its individual features (age, sex or rank), uncertain about the probability of being the recipient of aggression. This is in line with the findings on the distribution of self-scratching and yawning immediately after agonistic interactions.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…When animals were engaged in social play, the context was labelled as play-fighting. Finally, when the subjects were involved in or witnessed an aggressive interaction, such a context was categorized as agonistic 34,35 (starting from the beginning of the aggression to one minute after the end of the aggressive event).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spontaneous Yawning and its Potential Functions in South American Sea Lions (Otaria flavescens)

Palagi

Guillén-Salazar

Llamazares-Martín

2019

Sci Rep

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Spontaneous yawning is a widespread behaviour in vertebrates. However, data on marine mammals are scarce. In this study, we tested some hypotheses on the functions of yawning in a captive group of South American sea lions (Otaria flavescens). According to the Dimorphism Hypothesis, species showing low levels of sexual dimorphism in canine size do not show sex differences in yawning distribution; this was supported by our findings, since yawning did not differ between the sexes. Yawning was more frequently performed during resting/sleeping contexts, thus supporting the Drowsiness Hypothesis. Yawning and self-scratching are considered reliable indicators of short-term anxiety in sea lions, since they immediately increased after conflicts both in aggressors and victims (Social Distress Hypothesis supported). In the long-term, yawning was not correlated with individuals’ dominance status, thus showing that anxiety is similarly experienced by dominants and subordinates. The last two findings can be explained by the social competition of this species, that involves individuals independently from their sex, age or ranking status. Therefore, the exposure to frequent stressful events can induce similar levels of anxiety in all the subjects (Resource Inequity Hypothesis supported). In conclusion, spontaneous yawning in sea lions seems to share similar functions with other social mammals, suggesting that this behaviour is a possible plesiomorphic trait.

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Relaxed Open Mouth reciprocity favours playful contacts in South American sea lions ( Otaria flavescens )

Cited by 21 publications

References 41 publications

Not just for fun! Social play as a springboard for adult social competence in human and non-human primates

Not just for fun! Social play as a springboard for adult social competence in human and non-human primates

The face never lies: facial expressions and mimicry modulate playful interactions in wild geladas

Spontaneous Yawning and its Potential Functions in South American Sea Lions (Otaria flavescens)

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