How many times have you looked at your dog and had the feeling that he is laughing?
Many, for sure. However, can animals really laugh? That is what we are going to clarify in this article…
Can animals laugh?
The question of whether or not animals laugh is not a new question that arises from the beautiful photos that we can now take of our pets and that keep us on Instagram for hours. In fact, this question has already moved Charles Darwin, back in 1872.
The scientist noticed a peculiarity in the sounds emitted by chimpanzees and other kinds of apes under certain circumstances. The curious thing is that it had certain similarities to the conditions under which human laughter took place.
Can dogs laugh?
Since then, the question has remained and studies on the subject have followed one after another… Let’s go back to the present…
Patricia Simonet is an animal behaviorist and has been in charge of documenting a series of sounds that dogs make when they are playing. Thus, he came to the conclusion that the canines, when looking for a ball while playing, growled, whined, barked and gasped… Sticking to the scientific term given, these sounds that our furry friends love were called “forced and frothy exhalation”, which in common language could be translated as “canine laughter”?
But the researcher went further… and using a spectrograph she was able to corroborate that the pattern was repeated in both adult dogs and puppies and always at times when they were experiencing pleasure.
Laughter in other animals
But dogs are not the only animals capable of laughing. Studies have shown that dolphins also laugh, as do monkeys. Maybe these don’t surprise you… But, studies also confirm that rats or birds can laugh.
Even so, there are many other species of animals in which this emotional reaction has not been corroborated. However, in this case, the viral videos we love to watch of animals that appear to be laughing while we tickle them, for example, have been of great help to researchers.
And you, did you know that your dog can laugh?
