Puppies tussle in the annual Puppy Bowl. Kids start a game of tag in a schoolyard. Play has been observed and documented in many species — and not just in mammals. However, according to Dr. Michael ...

If you think laughter and comedy are reserved strictly for humans, you’d be wrong. A study in the late 1990s showed that creatures like rats emit ultrasonic vocalizations while playing with or ...

To study play behaviors in animals, scientists must be able to authentically simulate play-conducive environments in the laboratory. Animals like rats are less inclined to play if they are anxious or ...

How important is play to an animal like a rat? It could be as essential as taking a breath. When scientists removed rats’ cerebral cortex, the brain area that governs higher cognition, the animals ...

One study found that rats emitted ultrasonic vocalizations when they were subjected to manual somatosensory stimulation, i.e., tickling. The results of this controversial research were published in ...