Piggyback rides and other crocodile fun
Ambush predators show their playful side
By Susan Milius
“There is a lady who has a few pet crocodiles and they play tug-of-war,” says Vladimir Dinets of the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. This is bath time merriment, with crocs pulling on towels.
That’s just some of the fun Dinets has heard about since he published “Play behavior in crocodilians” in the February Animal Behavior and Cognition. He has encountered skepticism as well. “If you see a kitten playing with a ball, everybody will say it’s play,” he says. “If you see a crocodile doing the same thing, it’s ‘attacking the ball.’ ”