The Emotional Lives of Animals

Here's a moment of web-synergy:

I was Googling for a ball with a bell in it, thinking that this would lead to yet another good novel-ball-inspired game or two or a hundred. You can play with your eyes closed if you have a ball that makes noise. The term "Bell Ball" led me to this site for pets. Which reminded me about Fred Donaldson's work in Original Play - Fred is one of the few people I know who has made the connection between animal play and human play and humans and animals playing together. So I started thinking about the connections between intergenerational and interspecies play. All of which then led me to an article, and then this quite delicious book "The Emotional Lives of Animals" by Mark Bekoff. In the article he says:

I think of play as being characterized by what I call the "Five S's of Play," its Spirit, Symmetry, Synchrony, Sacredness, and Soulfulness. The Spirit of play is laid bare for all to see as animals prodigally run about, wrestle, and knock one another over. The Symmetry and Synchrony of play is reflected in the harmony of the mutual agreements to trust one another - individuals share intentions to cooperate with one another to prevent play from spilling over into fighting. This trust is Sacred. Finally, there's a deepness to animal play in that the players are so immersed in play that they are the play. Play is thus a Soulful activity, perhaps the essence of individual's being at the moment as they play from deep in their hearts.

There's also a feeling of incredible freedom and creativity in the flow of play. So it's important also to keep in mind the six F's of play it Flexibility, Freedom, Friendship, Frolic, Fun, and Flow. As they run about, jump on one another, somersault, and bite one another animals create mind-boggling scenarios. Behavior patterns that are observed in mating are intermixed in flexible kaleidoscopic sequences with actions that are used during fighting, looking for prey, and avoiding being eaten.