Poems and Thoughts    by Frank Maurer

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Is Juvenile Play Useful? The pandemic has sadly shown us the result, when human children are isolated-- Undeveloped social skills, lesser science and math abilities, and often depression. But what occurs with social play in juvenile Belding's ground squirrels? * Those juveniles engaging in more social play, Had a greater increase in caution when responding to a potential threat, Demonstrating, as with our human children, The benefits of 'play' which seems in the squirrels, To promote refinement along the caution-boldness continuum. When one investigates, the result helps depict So much similarity with all us mammals! * Urocitellus beldingi Frank Maurer 27 August 2023 1215 Hours.