Animal laughs no joke says expert

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4401695.stm

Many animals may have their own forms of laughter, says a US researcher writing in the magazine Science.
Professor Jaak Panksepp says that animals other than humans exhibit play sounds that resemble human laughs.

These include the panting sounds made by chimps and dogs when they play and chirping sounds observed in rats.

This suggests that the capacity for laughter may be a very ancient emotional response that predates the evolution of humankind, says Panksepp

Research suggests the capacity for human laughter preceded the capacity for speech.

Professor Panksepp, of Bowling Green State University in Ohio, US, explains that neural circuits for laughter exist in "ancient" parts of our brain, whose general structure is shared amongst many animals.

Young chimps "play pant" as they mischievously chase and tickle each other.

And when rats play, they make chirps which some scientists associate with positive emotional feelings.

Rats emit chirps when they are at play

When rats are tickled in a playful way, they become socially bonded to humans and are rapidly conditioned to seek tickles, the US neuroscientist explains in Science.

The chirping sounds could be provoked by nerve circuitry in the brain which releases the neurotransmitter dopamine. These dopamine circuits also light up in the human brain during human amusement.

"Such knowledge may help to reveal how joking and horsing around emerged in our expansive higher brain regions," Professor Panksepp writes.

"Although no one has investigated the possibility of rat humour, it it exists, it is likely to be heavily laced with slapstick."

Other researchers prefer to view laughter and joy as uniquely human traits.

its funny to imagine a dog laughing...

Animals are far more capable than what we give them credit for!

lol Now that brings a smile to my face..
The theory makes sense, and I am quite good at exaggerating them eg: My dog would come and type "lol" on the keyboard.
Animals are so beautiful, they should be entitled to laugh - if it's in their nature also.

I can absolutely blieve it.

yea. i'd have to say that animals do have a good chortle at us humans.. but beware when we laugh at our pets.. gets them a bit miffed it does

whats even weirder is how they change when they see you neked, or rather, the look in their eye... my blooming cat follows me to the bathroom and watches me have a shower.. and he just stares.. probably amazed that a person can be so milky white (i swear i reflect sunlight)

strange pus-cat...

Even an animal enjoys a good laugh every now and then.

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this is my dog having a good laugh

Blue Collar Tv... I think it was Ron White

"First time in my life I ever heard a deer laugh at me!"

Talking about brining his wife hunting.

my bird will start laughing at funny things before my girlfriend or i do, like on tv, if were not watching it and its on he will just start laughing if somthing funny happens.

Sometimes, I think my dog mocks me. But I do believe animals can laugh. She makes these little sighing noises when she's happy that sound like she's going, "Eh?"

My dog makes grunting/snorting sounds when she is content. I have a laid back cat that purrs all the time. I believe animals are very intelligent and yes they can laugh.

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The common american prarie dog not only laughs.
It builds towns.

They have huge underground networks of tunnels so big that each individual animal, sometimes into the thousands, builds himself a house complete with floors and a lavatory. They build gardens and dumps, even social clubs where they can go and meet members of the opposite sex. They speak to each other constantly, argue and fight, even label and decorate their homes and tunnels.


Animals are so incredible, humans do not see it because they are arrogant and vain, labeling all critters as far below them, when in fact they are nothing but equals.

Agreed, Aztec. It's proven that some animals have emotions anyway, and pratically all of them feel pain.

I know for a fact that my cats are always laughing at me. I can see it in their eyes...

I 100% agree. I have two dogs and you just know they mock you. My newest one, that I am training right now will actually howl/bark back at me while I scold him. Just last night I was shaking my finger at him for chewing my sock and he BIT the end of my finger! Dogs are smarter then you think.