The groundbreaking research of Gordon Burghardt, Alumni Distinguished Service Professor in the Departments of Psychology and Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, was cited in a BBC article about cranes dancing. Burghardt studies animals at play. He defines play as a repeated behavior that should not contribute to survival. It is spontaneous and voluntary, performed when the animal is healthy and free from stress. “Maybe one of the functions in cranes is that it helps keep the [long-term] pair bond exciting and interesting,” he said. Read the full article here.