A Capital Playground
by Alex Hawes
Animals at the National Zoo seem more than happy to show us the many varieties of play that scientists have recognized. The Zoo is teeming with young and old frolicking, wrestling, and chasing--and that's not just the visitors. A journey through the Zoo promises numerous sightings of animals enthusiastically entertaining themselves.
Near the top of the hill, on Olmsted Walk, one encounters the Grevy's zebras. Like most members of the horse family, these animals are quite energetic players. Their rough-house often is misinterpreted by the public as fighting--yet their play-bites do not injure, and are not accompanied by the braying customary during real aggression. Next door to the zebras, the kangaroos hold court. They put on quite a show when boxing with each other. Again, this is only play, and can be quite fun to watch.
The next stop, the Elephant House, won't disappoint seekers of animal amusement. The most spirited player there seems to be Shanthi, at age 19 the youngest elephant at the Zoo. Shanthi tosses logs and tires about with her trunk, kicks straw with her back legs while squeaking gleefully, and runs around trumpeting in reckless abandon. Her neighbors, the rhinos, can be seen chasing and dodging each other. Sometimes this may represent actual aggression, but mostly it seems to be just good, wholesome fun.
The term "monkeying around" is justified. Saki monkeys, in the Zoo's Small Mammal House, demonstrate "tons of play" according to one animal keeper. They chase, wrestle, and even play around with rocks, for as much as 30 minutes at a time. The pygmy marmosets, which live with the sakis, will join in the fun from time to time. In one commonly seen game, a saki will flash its tail about, as the marmosets try to snatch it.
A tour of play behavior wouldn't be complete without a visit to the virtual Play Palace--the Great Ape House. Renowned for both social and object play, these primates always captivate onlookers with their apish antics. Young gorillas at the Zoo chase, slap, and tussle together, make just about any object in their enclosure into some sort of toy, and wildly spin in circles in rampant self-amusement.
Farther down the hill one finds the Reptile Discovery Center (RDC). While reptiles are not normally thought of as particularly playful, one of the Zoo's Komodo dragons seems to enjoy dragging paper towels around its enclosure in its mouth. A former RDC resident, a soft-shelled turtle, could be seen toying around with a basketball. An aquatic adaptation for ball sports?
Near the base of Olmsted Walk is the playground of the lions and tigers. The sociable lions primarily wrestle and cavort with each other, while the more solitary tigers focus on objects to amuse themselves. Zoo goers may be quite familiar with the tigers' sportful play with large metal kegs found in their enclosure; they drag these kegs up and down a staircase, and in and out of a moat--tossing them around like rag dolls.
Across the way in Beaver Valley, sea lions and Asian small-clawed otters both chase each other about, in and out of the water. "Almost everything the otters do looks like play," says the Zoo's Belinda Reser. They play keep-away with objects in their enclosure, endlessly altering their habitat by digging up and toying around with rocks and bits of sod. Some of the Asian otters also live in the Small Mammal House, where they often are seen playing around with walnuts, sometimes hiking one between their legs like a football. Their non-stop amusements probably serve to fine-tune motor skills, and develop social hierarchies between individuals, Reser believes.
Finally, rounding out the play circuit, one returns up the hill to the Bird House. In this area, birds of various species, and of all ages, may be seen erupting into bouts of running, jumping, and wing flapping--which one animal keeper can only describe as "having fun." Cassowaries scurry about, leaping and twisting in the air, while cranes and spoonbills play with sticks, perhaps practicing nest-building.
This is a mere sampling of examples of animal play from around the park. Come to the National Zoo to see all the fun and excitement for yourself, and observe the animals' games while they observe you, and perhaps wonder what is amusing you so much.
(ZooGoer 25(1) 1996 Copyright 1996 Alex Hawes. All rights reserved.)
