User:Wnm428/sandbox

Article Evaluation
The article Mate Choice contains a lot of relevant information on the given topic. Many of the references listed are from the 1990s so it is possible that some of the given information is now outdated. It would be helpful to research more recent articles to give more relevant information, as some of it may not be accurate now. The viewpoint that discussed short term mating strategies seemed like it was being represented as more of a personal viewpoint rather than coming from a reliable, cited source. The links for the citations checked worked and are supportive of the information it is supporting from the article. Most facts are referenced with an appropriate, reliable resource, however there were some sections of the article that would have benefited from some more references. On the talk page for this article, there is a lot of great constructive criticism that was given such as how they could change the headings for certain sections of the article in order for it to make more sense and be more informative. The article author replied back to this criticism in an appropriate fashion and it appears that they used this constructive criticism to edit their article and improve it. The article has been rated as a c-class and is part of WikiProject Animals.

Article Selection
Cat play and toys is the article I have chosen to add to for the Wikipedia assignment. There is little information included in this article so far and it could use a lot of improvement. Some ideas for improvement in this article would be to include sections on: ways in which kittens interact with each other through play that shows their behavioural instincts, more specific ways in which kittens/cats interact and play with their toys and how this shows their underlying instincts, the specific types of toys that cats play with to show these behaviours, and any evolutionary history of instinctual play in cats.

Some possible sources to use in the editing of this article are:

https://watermark.silverchair.com/14-1-427.pdf?token=AQECAHi208BE49Ooan9kkhW_Ercy7Dm3ZL_9Cf3qfKAc485ysgAAAhcwggITBgkqhkiG9w0BBwagggIEMIICAAIBADCCAfkGCSqGSIb3DQEHATAeBglghkgBZQMEAS4wEQQM0sqfjS2Nd4Q_9YdEAgEQgIIByjIbtRj83oTAvyPR4nLiJAwq54JVhUn9xPFs1i2xLHqeTFeYNYm2ohPSub9iXYhY0AcRcDh368GFfcFdmsYoN9i_Rdrs5qGCCMM9bkBU_m_7XagKpsmJVYzrC4Nr9rVqb54rwexS4V4EbCCEZbIonKTFVGuzYxUxr0buqEhypOu_xE3zRACwKHI5wgHYL3Ouy7V8qoL64oLy0qlKW5VXlmB-6Fr5TtjCOckS8cTHG0CUYXLOK13h8ifv1R7k17m9dXBv84ey27cVHV4_E-wyf8NkEChYi9ojBZQVPoDImbLrB8jbKECsCKybk_rXaZLFiAtVr6Y1lA-zNBpiFXkl_IMn32LPAFyxv47IaFz--wgD6LbZ7V2C2_wqD2Dn5L6pnzwhF0eVcKNRrMIVXUNWKFWYz0q9RRMAdP9WuQGtgib8kx3FuHSeKsbmlnx9KQqudaknQBsM4luQxPc0ESW04RZBLtHx_JQqEi0oBHCsyLMKN-HuC9LD6D8BIsfISY-2BDwYPqQ60AqKSgtkM74EHKOMZuXb5v-Y1cJyRi4OpS9No5idJgSIXmcfeiwcYLJRY5h0AUiix-QDdlgkUkcwCuzUr0CnfX13vMsT

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0003347285800737

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S000334728880246X

http://booksandjournals.brillonline.com/content/journals/10.1163/156853978x00422

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0168159102001533

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Patrick_Bateson/publication/313869817_4_Discontinuities_in_Development/links/591ebe5fa6fdcc233fd06069/4-Discontinuities-in-Development.pdf

Play in Kittens
Play in cats is a behaviour that is brought about during growth from the kitten stage onward. Some important aspects of this play behaviour for the development of kittens in to adult cats include motor development, social behaviour and cognitive development. There are different types of play that develop at different stages during the development and growth of a kitten. The first play behaviours observed in kittens include things like approaching, pawing and holding onto each other. Following this stage in their development, kittens begin to show an interest in inanimate objects and prey behaviour. This is the development of their nonsocial behaviour in which they become more independent and begin to practice predatory/hunting behaviour. Play behaviour in kittens is also important in providing them with physical exercise as they are growing, as well as providing a means of interacting with other members of their litter to keep strong social bonds among them. Social play is important between litter-mates since this is the main source of play for kittens in early life with little alternative to other means of play. Kittens are limited in room for exploring for other means of play, so engaging in this social play behaviour is important until they have access to other play objects such as toys.

Defining Object Play
Object play for animals (in this case, cats) is the use of inanimate objects by the animal to express play behaviour. In the case of pet domestic cats, humans normally provide them with purchased, human-made toys such as toy mice. When it comes to non-domestic, wild cats, they may use several objects in the wilderness as their toys including sticks, leaves, rocks, feathers, etc. Actions that cats may carry out as this play behaviour include throwing the toy object, chasing, biting, capturing, etc. as they might do with a real source of prey. Engaging in object play helps young cats to practice these skills that they need as they grow into adults.

Differing Motor Aspects of Play
There are several different motor patterns associated with the play behaviour of cats and they have different roles in the social context. Pouncing is one of these motor patterns in which it is used to initiate play through physical contact. Chasing and horizontal leaping is an example of a motor pattern that may be used by a cat to end play. The movement of a cat's tail during play and the varying rates at which the cat may move its tail can even be a useful indicator of its level of playfulness. There are patterns of belly-up and stand-up actions that are engaged in by kittens in which seem to show that they prefer to engage in physical contact play in terms of their social role among other kittens.

Influence of Hunger on Cat Play Behaviour
It has been studied that hunger has been shown to give an increase in intensity in the play behaviour of cats, and a decrease in fear they show towards larger sized toys. This effect that hunger has on play behaviour may be attributed to how experienced of a hunter the cat is. It is not expected that a cat who has a higher level of hunting experience would show this increased intensity of their play behaviour when hungry. Instead, they are more likely to show more predatory behaviour. In the case of cats with a lower level of hunting experience, they show this increased play behaviour since they are not able to engage in actual predatory activities and instead show predatory behaviours towards toys when hungry as an experienced hunter would show towards actual prey when hungry.

Wnm428's Peer Review (by cll073)
This draft is well written. Everything is presented in a neutral manner and relevant to the topic. This article was informative and I found it very interesting. I did not know that play in domestic cats had a purpose and it makes me want to do some more research on my own. Each paragraph is relevant and well explained.

Play in Kittens-


 * This is a good explanation and introduction of the topic.
 * There could be more explanation on how play helps the development of important behaviours (ie. social behaviours etc..). A new paragraph could help expand these ideas and make the whole article more coherent.

Other notes:


 * In the last three sections, the information is all explained well and fully. However, the information is not cited.
 * Overall, the information is well presented, balanced and explain. The only things I would recommend is to add the citations and maybe expand on the ideas presented in the first paragraph.

Peer Review (by Abby Vander)
I thought the draft was well written. Your information is displayed in a well organized manor and presented with a neutral tone. The leading paragraph was a great introduction to the topic of your article outlining some of the topics that are elaborated in your body paragraphs, however there were some topics mentioned in the lead that were not discussed in the rest of your article. Maybe you could include a paragraph going more in depth about how play is important for socialization and developing bonds with litter mates. It also might be beneficial to include more sources throughout your body paragraphs. It appears that each body paragraph is only reffering to one source. Including multiple sources could allow you to expand on some ideas mentioned, and make your information more reputable.

Overall great job! I love cats and thought this was a interesting and cute topic:)

Peer Review (by Walshanna)
Great draft.

Could use more references - particularly for:

- Differing motor aspects of play

- Defining object play

These sections only have one reference, and many sentences without any additional citation. Either repeat the citation number to note that it's cited in that article or include more references!

Introductory paragraph about play in kittens is very informative, but could use additional references as well.

Also, check reference 4 - include the name of the article and author, it seems to just be a Memorial University link right now.

Peer Review by jackhutton1
This draft is well written and is very detailed on the many aspects that effect the development of cat play behaviour while maintaining a neutral tone towards the subject. One area you may be able to expand upon is perhaps different effects of their social behaviour through varying types or degrees of play as mentioned in the introduction. If possible, it may be beneficial to locate a couple more sources in order to solidify and expand upon the factual points that you make in paragraphs 2-4. Other than those points the spelling and grammar appears to be in check and the topic is covered in a fairly broad aspect. Overall well done. good luck!