When 2 animals fight/play, why do they both pause at certain points and then continue fighting/playing after a few seconds?

Question

I’ve noticed this behavior in animals like Rams who butt heads but then both pause for a second before continuing to fight.

In: Biology

Answer 1

They pause to take in the situation. When they are play fighting either with another animal or with a human, you will notice they wouldn’t wanna go all in esp when they get too involved. They pause to see if the other person is doing ok- these are more or less training phases for them. When it’s a real fight, it’s to see if the opponent is dead or if they need to be more dominating/or switch to a submissive stance, or to see if the other would submit. Mostly animals don’t wanna kill during a play fight and they dont wanna keep attacking something that’s dead/dying.