Man ’s best friend loves to wager , and there ’s been extensive inquiry into the rules of fight between pawl . Mimicking signals let dogs live when their buddies require to goof around and it ’s a conduct that ’s been observed inspecies - specific playsuch as cats playing with cat . Now , for the first clock time , a study publish in the journalBehavioural Processdetails how mime as a means of play meshing has been observe across mintage , as horses were shown to copy their canine Quaker .
play between humans and bounder has been the main interspecies play focus up until now , but research worker at the University of Pisa decided to examine how play occurred between horses and wienerwurst . look at 20 videos of dog - Equus caballus social play , the squad identified play behaviour that were display by both species and those that were species - specific . They found that the playful tactics between the two species , such as commingle up movements and ego - handicapping , were quite well balanced between the two creature .
A fun technique call the Relaxed Open Mouth ( shortened to ROM and incidentally how I ’ve drop most of lockdown ) is far-flung among beast and basically is defined by making funnyfacial face . The TV revealed that even horse practice it and to an equal extent as their play partners when engaged with detent .
Another play technique address Rapid Facial Mimicry ( RFM ) is seen when creature quickly copy their play partners ' expressions . It ’s thought to act as a way of “ mood sharing ” during play . From the research , the team found that horses were more likely to replicate their playmate ' cockamamy construction than mimic " play sting " behavior , though non - aggressive biting was still observe in both metal money .
The two techniques of play and communicating follow together to see the horses copying the open - mouthed expressions of the firedog , and mimicking movement and the temper of their play partner . The researcher claim that this show that dogs and horses do actively engage in play and mimicking behavior , despite their pregnant difference in size and specie . They also concluded that dogs and buck are able to okay - tune their actions when play to reduce the risk of any crossed wires , which could turn it into a fight , and suggest that identifying a universal language of play that enable such interspecies fundamental interaction would make an interesting focus for next research .
