Social play by crocodilians is almost never reported, but this doesn’t mean that it is particularly
rare. There is a “short sequence of film of two sibling Nile crocodiles tussling with one another in what
looked like play behaviour” (D. Naish, personal communication, 2013). I have observed two juvenile
black caimans (Melanosuchus niger) about 30 cm long in Mamiraua Reserve (Brazil) as they swam in a
tight circle as if chasing each other; this behavior occurred in three bouts of ~1 min each during one night
of observation. Similar behavior is often displayed by adult crocodilians during courtship (Dinets, 2010);
indeed, in other vertebrate species it is quite common for elements of courtship behavior to be
incorporated into play by juveniles as well as adults (Burghardt, 2005).