Dolphins and Flow

Scientists Stan Kuczaj and Lauren Highfill write:

"Many researchers have suggested that...animals inherited a predisposition to play because 'it helps animals gain knowledge of the properties of objects, perfect motor skills, and recognize and manipulate characteristics of [their] environment,'...

"One sign of the importance of play, they added, is that many animals play at the risk of loss of life and limb, including dolphins..."

Sounds just like what Csikszentmihalyi found out about why and how humans play (see Of Fun and Flow) - that whole "flow-seeking" thing, eh? Even at the risk of life and limb.

The authors also note that "The captive dolphins 'produced 317 distinct forms of play behavior during the five years that they were observed.' Three hundred and seventeen! It's all about repertoire.

They go on to describe some dolphin behavior that should be familiar to any good facilitator of human games - especially one who is familiar with Muska Mosston (the "slanty rope theory" as also described in my article about fun and flow):

"One calf became adept at 'blowing bubbles while swimming upside-down near the bottom of the pool and then chasing and biting each bubble before it reached the surface,' the researchers continued. 'She then began to release bubbles while swimming closer and closer to the surface, eventually being so close that she could not catch a single bubble.'

"'During all of this, the number of bubbles released was varied, the end result being that the dolphin learned to produce different numbers of bubbles from different depths, the apparent goal being to catch the last bubble right before it reached the surface of the water.'

"'She also modified her swimming style while releasing bubbles, one variation involving a fast spin-swim. This made it more difficult for her to catch all of the bubbles she released, but she persisted in this behavior until she was able to almost all of the bubbles she released. Curiously, the dolphin never released three or fewer bubbles, a number which she was able to catch and bite following the spin-swim release.'

"The dolphin may have been keeping her play interesting by blowing more bubbles than she could easily catch and bite,' the researchers wrote."

These observations not only help us understand our deep fascination with dolphins, but also affirm a great deal about our understanding of what and why we play.