HERE COMES TROUBLE!

Look out! Isabel Thomas goes in search of nature's naughtiest animals and asks if they are misbehaving or just misunderstood...

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Stealing! Scoffing! Fighting! Raiding food! Some animals spend their days doing things that you’d NEVER get away with. Their rude manners often make headlines – and fascinate scientists too. Strangely, studying animal behaviour is one of the best ways to understand our own species better. So, let’s put cute in the corner and visit the vandals, mischief-makers and trespassers of the animal kingdom.

Play fighting

Your teachers might frown on play fighting at school, but for many young animals play fighting IS school. Young mammals and birds can often be spotted wrestling, kicking, boxing, pecking or shoving each other. These competitions are different from fights over food, territory or mates. In a play fight, opponents take it in turns to join in a game, such as bite without getting bitten, and no one gets seriously hurt.

Play fighting is so common among mammals, it seems to be an important part of growing up. Scientists are still working out why. One theory is that it helps animals develop the muscles and skills they will one day need in real fights. When red kangaroos play fight, they learn what their bodies are capable of compared to their opponents. They avoid the dangerous kicks seen in real battles, and instead try to push their opponent off balance and wrestle them to the ground.

Another theory is that play fighting helps mammals to practise social skills such as cooperation, which will help them to avoid real fights in the future. Mammal parents seem to know this. They don’t rush to stop play fights, ignoring them instead.

Greedy guts