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.

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00:00Do animals laugh?

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

00:11And though the sounds of laughter can vary widely across individuals and groups,

00:16the sound of a laugh is usually recognizable even between people belonging to different cultures.

00:23But what about animals other than humans?

00:28Do they produce sounds of enjoyment?

00:30And do these sounds, and what causes them, bear any resemblance to human laughter?

00:36In other words, do animals laugh?

00:43In humans, laughter can express a range of emotions,

00:47from positive feelings like enjoyment to negative ones such as disgust.

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

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

01:05many animals produce unique sounds during play,

01:09and researchers consider such vocalizations to be a close analog of human laughter.

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

01:24and they published their findings in the journal Bioacoustics.

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

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

01:43the ultrasonic trill of a rat,

01:46the whistle and squawk of a bottlenose dolphin,

01:50and the peeping of a squirrel monkey

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

01:58Scientists found these vocal play signals throughout the mammal literature,

02:03especially among primates, rodents, social carnivores,

02:08and, to a lesser extent, marine mammals, they wrote in the study.

02:12In fact, most primate species, including chimpanzees, gorillas, monkeys, and baboons,

02:19demonstrated playful laughter,

02:21from panting chuckles, lip-smacking and grunts,

02:24to cackles, trills, and squeals.

02:30And if you listen to the panting play laughter of primates,

02:33it's easy to see how our laughter may have originated during play.

02:38Human laughter may have started out as a similar panting sound

02:43that, over evolutionary time,

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

02:54Laughing animals.

02:55Just another one of life's little mysteries.

02:58Music.

02:59Music.

03:00Music.

03:01Music.

03:02.

03:07Music.

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