“They’re thinking in very sophisticated ways,” said Alex Taylor, Ph.D., an associate psychology professor at Auckland University, who studies kea play. Coyote play, for example, can be a matter of life and death. Those that play fair, who can discern the subtle signals of how and when to play, become popular playmates and solidify their place in the pack. “The young coyotes who don’t play fair basically leave their group. Not because they’re driven out, they just leave their group because other animals don’t want anything to do with them.

Source: New York Times July 21, 2020 13:00 UTC