Do Animals Laugh?

Live Science

Human laughter may trace its evolutionary beginnings to vocalizations made during play. This type of "laughing" is found in many mammals and even in some birds.

Transcript

00:00 Do animals laugh?

00:06 People laugh together as a way to connect and bond.

00:10 And though the sounds of laughter can vary widely across individuals and groups, the

00:15 sound of a laugh is usually recognizable even between people belonging to different cultures.

00:24 But what about animals other than humans?

00:27 Do they produce sounds of enjoyment, and do these sounds, and what causes them, bear any

00:32 resemblance to human laughter?

00:35 In other words, do animals laugh?

00:43 In humans, laughter can express a range of emotions, from positive feelings like enjoyment

00:48 to negative ones such as disgust.

00:53 People also laugh when they hear a joke, or when they see something that they think is funny.

00:59 And while it's unknown if animals' intelligence includes what humans would call a sense of

01:04 humor, many animals produce unique sounds during play, and researchers consider such

01:10 vocalizations to be a close analog of human laughter.

01:15 Recently, scientists reviewed dozens of studies looking for any mentions in any animal of

01:22 vocal signaling during play, and they published their findings in the journal Bioacoustics.

01:29 The researchers identified 63 mammal species and two bird species that laughed while playing.

01:36 Many of these sounds, such as the purr of a vervet monkey, the ultrasonic trill of a

01:44 rat, the whistle and squawk of a bottlenose dolphin, and the peeping of a squirrel monkey,

01:54 occurred only while the animals were at play.

01:59 Scientists found these vocal play signals throughout the mammal literature, especially

02:04 among primates, rodents, social carnivores, and, to a lesser extent, marine mammals, they

02:10 wrote in the study.

02:13 In fact, most primate species, including chimpanzees, gorillas, monkeys, and baboons, demonstrated

02:20 playful laughter, from panting chuckles, lip-smacking and grunts, to cackles, trills, and squeals.

02:30 And if you listen to the panting play laughter of primates, it's easy to see how our laughter

02:35 may have originated during play.

02:39 Some laughter may have started out as a similar panting sound that, over evolutionary time,

02:45 became the vocalized "ha ha ha" that we use today.

02:54 Laughing animals - just another one of life's little mysteries.

02:57 [MUSIC PLAYING]

Category

Transcript

Recommended