Also, he says, owls are playful, especially young owls. Scientists suspect that play depends on cognition, and that species with relatively bigger brains tend to play more. Play is not easy to recognize or define in the animal world, but evolutionary psychologists have come up with a set of criteria for identifying it. Play is activity that’s exaggerated, awkward and inappropriate, nonfunctional, and repetitive. It’s generally spontaneous, intentional, pleasurable, and rewarding, and initiated only when an animal is relaxed.
