Do Animals Laugh?
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.
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00:00 Do animals laugh?
00:06 People laugh together as a way to connect and bond.
00:11 And though the sounds of laughter can vary widely across individuals and groups, the
00:16 sound of a laugh is usually recognizable even between people belonging to different cultures.
00:24 But what about animals other than humans?
00:28 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
00:58 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
01:11 vocalizations to be a close analog of human laughter.
01:16 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
02:11 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
02:36 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.
02:58 [MUSIC PLAYING]