Animals laugh and it's no joke, experts say

Many animals may adopt their own types of laughter, says an American researcher who wrote this in Science magazine. Prof. Jaak Panksepp says that animals other than humans reveal playing sounds reminiscent of human laughter.

Many animals may adopt their own types of laughter, says an American researcher who wrote this in Science magazine. Prof. Jaak Panksepp says that animals other than humans reveal playing sounds reminiscent of human laughter.
This includes breathing sounds made by chimpanzees and playing dogs as well as chirping sounds made by rats. Hence, the ability to laugh is probably an ancient emotional response that predates human evolution, Panksp says. The study suggests that the ability to laugh preceded the ability to speak.
Prof. Franskap from Bowling Green University in Ohio explains that the neural circuits of laughter exist in "ancient" parts of the human brain, areas whose structure is shared by many animals.
Young chimpanzees pant as they chase and wrestle with each other. When rats play, they make chirping sounds that scientists associate with positive emotions.
When rats are playfully tickled, they become socially attached to humans and they continue to seek out the game. says the scientist specializing in the study of the nervous system. They can be stimulated to make these peeping sounds by stimulating the nerve circuits in the brain that release the neurotransmitter dopamine. These dopamine circuits are also lit up in the human brain during human pleasure.
"Such knowledge may reveal how jokes and laughter appeared in the open areas of the upper brain," writes Prof. Penksp. "Although no one has investigated the possibility of humor in rats, it exists, and it is closer to slapstick."
Other researchers prefer to see laughter and pleasure as human characteristics.
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