Locomotor play drives motor skill acquisition at the expense of growth: A life history trade-off.
Locomotor play drives motor skill acquisition at the expense of growth: A life history trade-off.
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DOI：
10.1126/sciadv.1500451
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发表时间：
2015-08
期刊：
影响因子：
13.6
通讯作者：
Ostner J
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Berghänel A;Schülke O;Ostner J
对游戏的投资可以优先于不受限制的身体发展，从而对生活史产生影响。早期运动游戏的发展成本和收益在生物学、心理学和健康科学中是一个令人困惑的话题。进化论预测，像玩耍这样的能量密集型行为只有在有相当大的好处的情况下才能进化。著名的理论认为，运动游戏是(I)低成本，利用生长和维护后剩余的能量，以及(Ii)有益的，因为它训练运动技能。然而，这两种理论在很大程度上都未经检验。以野生阿萨姆猕猴为研究对象，我们结合了运动游戏和运动技能获得的行为观察，以及通过摄影测量非侵入性测量的自然食物可获得性和个体生长率的定量测量。我们的结果表明，对运动游戏的投资确实是有益的，因为它加速了运动技能的获得，但在减少增长方面却付出了相当大的代价。即使在适度的自然能量限制下，运动游戏的投资也占到了增长差异的50%，这与当前的理论-运动游戏只使用生长和维护后剩余的能量-强烈冲突。雄性幼体比雌性幼体玩得更多，获得运动技能的速度更快，生长得更少，导致体型差异一直持续到女性成熟的年龄。因此，根据技能要求，对游戏的投资可以不受游戏成本的限制而优先于身体发展，这强烈地突显了游戏的个体发育和进化的重要性。
Investment in play can take ontogenetic priority over unconstrained physical development with consequences for life history. The developmental costs and benefits of early locomotor play are a puzzling topic in biology, psychology, and health sciences. Evolutionary theory predicts that energy-intensive behavior such as play can only evolve if there are considerable benefits. Prominent theories propose that locomotor play is (i) low cost, using surplus energy remaining after growth and maintenance, and (ii) beneficial because it trains motor skills. However, both theories are largely untested. Studying wild Assamese macaques, we combined behavioral observations of locomotor play and motor skill acquisition with quantitative measures of natural food availability and individual growth rates measured noninvasively via photogrammetry. Our results show that investments in locomotor play were indeed beneficial by accelerating motor skill acquisition but carried sizable costs in terms of reduced growth. Even under moderate natural energy restriction, investment in locomotor play accounted for up to 50% of variance in growth, which strongly contradicts the current theory that locomotor play only uses surplus energy remaining after growth and maintenance. Male immatures played more, acquired motor skills faster, and grew less than female immatures, leading to persisting size differences until the age of female maturity. Hence, depending on skill requirements, investment in play can take ontogenetic priority over physical development unconstrained by costs of play with consequences for life history, which strongly highlights the ontogenetic and evolutionary importance of play.