Play Behavior: Persistence, Decrease, and Energetic Compensation During Food Shortage in Deer Fawns

Abstract

White-tailed deer fawns continued to play despite an experimentally induced 33 percent milk shortage. They reduced play by 35 percent and general activity by 9 percent but increased grazing by 62 percent, resulting in virtually complete energetic compensation. This demonstrates the importance of play behavior in a mammal's activity budget.