Everything Plays

There's a "famous" (if you work in those circles ;) children's book Everyone Poops but there should be another called "Everyone Plays". The more species I deal with the more I'm moved by the universal development of 'play' in the young, how parallel we are with puppies, lambs, hamsters, kittens, and now goslings and other poultry. We begin our lives solely focused on nutrition, warmth, ad rest, then our muscles start to exert themselves, start to stretch-stammer into clumsy movement, then we are suddenly intensely interested in toying with the skills that are the hallmark of the species we're a member of. In humans, it seems to be language, co-play, building/creating. In lambs it's flocking, running, nibbling, in kittens it's pouncing and biting. In geese it's water! I was moving between brooding boxes, having just left some week-old goslings with fresh shavings and water, when I heard massive commotion, the muffled thundering of web-feet all astir. I walked back over and the six goslings froze in place, water glistening on their yellow-brown down, dripping off their beaks, and spreading under their feet. I'm told that if they get much larger before being sold we give them swim breaks.