On Thu, 16 Dec 1999 10:25:13 -0500 Bill Barowy <wbarowy@mail.lesley.edu>
writes:
/cut/ But I had never seen the bunny play -- or was the episode with the
box 'play'?
What, you've never seen your bunny play? Shame on you! You're not paying
attention!
Bunnies definitely play. Mine dashes madly up and down the hall for no
apparent reason, dodges around, under and behind the furniture as if he
were being pursued by imaginary foxes, and spends hours in the box of
dirt I've provided for him digging, poking and patting it down. If I
trail a dish towel up and down he chases it, and will grab it and worry
it like a little terrier dog and if I'm wearing a long skirt he'll chase
the hem (imperiling both him and me as I frequently half-trip over him).
He also launches himself straight up in the air with a shimmy-like wiggle
at the apogee of the jump. If you want more dignified and less
"anecdotal" info, consult the House Rabbit Society's web page.
On a more serious note, when we ask, "Do animals play,?" what do we
really mean? I think it's almost an economics type question, i.e. "Do
animals do things which don't have any immediate and/or visible pay-off
in terms of food, survival, reproduction, etc." Human children play
because we let them "get away with it" when they're not required to do
serious stuff like school, or when it leads them to pressure their
parents to buy them things. (Once upon a time you could buy the four
volumes of "Lord of the Rings" and "The Hobbit" and create your own world
of Middle Earth. Now you have to fork over a small fortune to buy every
extant Pokemon card.)
The economic assumption has penetrated our thinking to the extent that it
has hijacked (at least) the American version of the English language.
When you think about it, Darwinian theories of evolution are just as
economically based - money in the bank or genes in the pool, it all comes
down to a complete devotion to narrowly instrumental ends. The ultimate
end-point in education is "teaching to the test" when the school system
is rating itself on some national achievement scale. Goofing off and
just fooling around are considered indications of poor character (if
anyone still uses that word).
Pay attention to your bunny - she may be able to teach you some things
your grad school professors never grasped.
Regards,
Rachel Heckert
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