Can Animals Laugh Like Humans? 0 59

A person can be amused by a good joke, but what about animals? It is unlikely that cats or even monkeys have their own jokes to tell each other. Animals can only be made to laugh by tickling them in certain places. However, not all animals respond to tickling in the same way, which creates the impression that only humans are capable of laughter.

Nevertheless, experiments have shown that such behavior is observed in monkeys and rats. In 2009, a psychologist from the University of Portsmouth conducted a study in which she tickled infants and small primates such as orangutans, gorillas, and chimpanzees. The monkeys responded with laughter — in scientific terminology, this is referred to as “tickle-induced vocalizations.” The author of the study suggests that the ability to laugh was inherited from a common ancestor of humans and great apes that lived 10 to 16 million years ago.

In another study, biologists found that tickling rats produces a sound similar to joyful exclamations. When the researchers tickled the rodents, they made sounds akin to those used during play. Some laboratory animals loved being tickled so much that they followed the hand that was tickling them.

So far, these are the only animals in which researchers have been able to document manifestations of laughter. It is likely that this ability exists in other species as well. To find this out, scientists need to observe more closely the sounds animals make during moments of joy or excitement. By analyzing their behavior during tickling or other actions that can provoke laughter, it will be possible to understand how different animals laugh.