Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!jarthur!jokim
From: jokim@jarthur.Claremont.EDU (John H. Kim)
Newsgroups: sci.bio
Subject: Re: Killing for fun
Message-ID: <11026@jarthur.Claremont.EDU>
Date: 1 Mar 91 08:33:43 GMT
References: <1991Feb26.202248.26171@odin.corp.sgi.com> <9560002@hpfcso.FC.HP.COM>
Organization: Harvey Mudd College, Claremont, CA 91711
Lines: 18

In article <9560002@hpfcso.FC.HP.COM> mll@hpfcso.FC.HP.COM (Mark Luce) writes:
>
>     Juvenile carnivores often engage in 'play' activities which are
>actually learning experiences. They are practicing the predatory skills
>which they will need to survive as adults. As such, these 'play' ...

And I suppose kids 'play' baseball because of an instinctive desire
to increase their hand-eye coordination.

So how do we determine that an animal is doing something for fun (play)
and not for practice?  It seems where this is headed is that carnivores
kill for practice, but find it fun and consider it play.  In which case
the entire point of whether it is killing for fun or killing for practice
is moot.
-- 
John H. Kim                 | (This space to be filled when I
jokim@jarthur.claremont.edu | think of something very clever 
uunet!jarthur!jokim         | to use as a disclaimer)