Do Animals Laugh?

A person might ask: do animals laugh?

What is animal laughter?  Is it similar to that of a human?  Do the emotions that elicit laughter from humans also apply to other animals?  Can all animals laugh or only a select few species?

Animal laughter is a peculiar topic.  Many humans think that our species is special.  While that is certainly true, it is speculated that laughter evolved prior to the origin of humans.  That speaks to just how natural laughter is; if animals around the world share it with us.

Animals have been found to have animal behaviour that resembles human laughter.  Animals that demonstrate vocalizations similar to human laughter include; non-human primates such as chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans; rats; dogs; and, obviously, humans.

Laughter in animals other than humans is commonly a response to physical contact, such as wrestling, play chasing, or tickling.  Humans and other mammals share similar ticklish areas on the body such as the armpits and belly.

A dog's laugh sounds like a pant.  A sonograph can be used to analyze the varying bursts of frequencies that come with the pant, resulting in laughter.  It is found that dog-laugh vocalization, when recorded and played to dogs in a shelter setting, can increase tail wagging, promote social behavior, initiate play, and decrease stress levels.  Sound similar?  Besides the tail wagging part, these same things can be, and usually are, brought out by human laughter.

Rat laughter, different than that of a dog's, cannot be heard by humans without special equipment.  During rough play and when being tickled, rats emit high frequency, ultrasonic vocalization.  The laugh is described as distinct "chirping".  Like humans, rats have ticklish skin and certain areas of the body that generate more laughter response than others.  A rat's laughter is associated with positive emotional feelings.  It has been indicated that rats can indeed laugh and express joy.

Chimpanzees generate alternating inhalations and exhalations that sound like breathing and panting, but is actually laughter.  It sounds similar to screeching.  This response from non-human primates is elicited from physical contact, such as rough play or tickling.  The difference between chimpanzee and human laughter may be the result of adaptations that have evolved to enable human speech.  Still, chimpanzees have been reported to express joy just like humans do.

Research has noted the similarity in forms of laughter among humans and non-human primates when being tickled.  Humans and these primates share similar ticklish areas and also similar facial expressions that are associated with joy.

Contrary to what many humans believe, we are similar in many ways to other animals.  We all have laughter.  We can all express joy.  After all, without laughter, how else could happiness be expressed?  The two coexist, depend on each other.  Like how we depend on the sun for life, humor depends on laughter to survive.

What Types of Laughter are there?

A person might ask: what kinds of laughter are there?  Laughter is not all the same.  As with snowflakes, there is not one laugh that is exactly the same.  We've went over the different types of humor (see the post Am I Funny?  and the Types of Humor), but now it's time to differentiate the types of laughter.

A multitude of different things can alter a person's laughter, including what kind of humor the person has, the cause of laughter (see Why do people laugh?), and the person itself.  These different combinations make way for a large variety of different laughters.

Laughter can be classified according to intensity, covertness, the respiratory pattern involved, the sequence of notes or pitches it produces, or according to the emotion it is expressed with.

Some people snort when they laugh, others shake silently with no sound coming out.  Some people's laugh sounds like a beautiful melody, while other's laugh sounds like a dying animal.  A lot of the time, however, a person can have many different types of laughter that can arise on different occasions.

For instance, someone might laugh quietly or politely, a chuckle, when they're with people older than them.  However, when with their friends, that same person might laugh crazily and hysterically.  In class, a group of students might giggle, trying to laugh quietly or stifle their laughter as not to get in trouble with the teachers.

In a previous article of mine (Why do people laugh?), I categorized laughter in three ways: amused laughter, fake laughter, and ticklish laughter.  This article will dive deeper into things, looking at certain aspects of laughter and the different types.  Most of the types of laughter will be caused by amused laughter.

Different types of laughter include, but are not limited to, the following: chuckling, giggling, outburst, sputtering, .  As you may recall, different emotions can elicit different types of laughter as well (see Why do people laugh?).  Embarrassment, nervousness, happiness, amusement, confusion, relief, and pain can all result in laughter.

The structure of laughter depends on the person, or the situation.  It is possible for a person to have different structures of laughter for different occasions.  Typically, a laugh has the structure of one of the following: "ha-ha-ha", "ho-ho-ho", or "he-he-he".  A person is physically unable to have a laughing structure of varying combinations, such as "ha-ho-he-ha".  It is, however, possible to have a variation on the first or last note in a sequence.  Therefore, "ha-ha-ho" and "he-he-ha" are possible.  Despite individual variants, a laugh is recognizable because all laughs have a basic structure.  Limitations of our vocal cords don't allow a combination of normal note durations and unusually long or short note intervals.

So, despite there being a large variety of different types of laughter with different laughing structures, all laughter has a basic structure and is recognizable from humans around the world.  Laughter is one of the only things that isn't altered by people's opinions.

Imagine visiting a foreign country and the people there spoke a language you couldn't understand.  They still smile just like you do and joke just like you do.  Guess what else?  They laugh: just like you do.

That's one of the beauties of laughter: it isn't altered by people's opinions.