Frequency of social play does not affect dispersal partnerships in wild meerkats

Abstract

The adaptive significance of play is one of ethology's greatest enigmas, yet few of the many hypotheses advanced to explain play have ever been tested. I evaluated an aspect of the social-bonding hypothesis, which proposes that social play strengthens long-term bonds between individuals, enhancing future alliances. Using data from a wild population, I tested five predictions arising from the hypothesis that meerkats, Suricata suricatta, use play to strengthen ties with potential dispersal partners. Meerkats did not favour play with the most appropriate potential partners, that is, they did not prefer their own sex (although they disperse with animals of the same sex only) nor did they strive to play with younger animals (that they could dominate in a future group) or avoid playing with older animals (that they could not). Frequency of play was unrelated to the size of subsequent dispersal parties, or the likelihood of males undertaking prospecting forays with companions, and preferred playmates were not favoured as prospecting partners. Although meerkats preferred to disperse with littermates (and littermates were strongly favoured in play), they played no more frequently with their future dispersal partners than with matched controls with which they did not disperse. I conclude that the strengthening of long-term bonds between potential dispersal partners is not the function of social play in meerkats.