Abstract
Juvenile rats normally engage in rough-and-tumble social play behavior. Casual and informal reports of social play have been superseded by more detailed observations, including longitudinal studies of the developmental function from preweanling to young adult stages. Social play is first seen at 15 or 16 days of age. It then increases in frequency and vigor to a peak level at approximately 36 days of age. At puberty, social play behaviors of males merge into situation-specific behaviors related to copulation and aggression. In females, social play continues into sexual maturity. This review compares the available ontogenetic descriptions of social play in juvenile rats and specifies a number of informational gaps in the literature.
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Thor, D.H., Holloway, W.R. Developmental analyses of social play behavior in juvenile rats. Bull. Psychon. Soc. 22, 587–590 (1984). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03333916
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03333916