Man is an animal that diddles, and there is no animal that diddles but man.
Edgar Allan Poe, “Diddling Considered as One of the Exact Sciences,” The Collected Works of Edgar Allan Poe, Vol. IV: The Raven Edition.
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Edgar Allan Poe
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The word “diddle” has two meanings:
• to swindle, to cheat;
• to pass time unproductively.
I have observed various creatures other than man engaged in diddling of each variety. For example, cats and dogs in households with two caregivers will, in the absence of one caregiver, seek to persuade the other that the absent caregiver failed to feed them. Dogs, when they imagine themselves unobserved, will try to effect various crimes. And cats spend a considerable amount of time being unproductive.