Animal Yucks

No! This post ain’t about yucky animals! It’s about animal laughter.

Back in grad school, my Medieval philosophy professor was convinced that her dogs laughed–or rather, had a canine equivalent to laughter–but didn’t have a scientific study or report of one to back it up.

But LiveScience.Com has one.

EXCERPT:

"Indeed, neural circuits for laughter exist in very ancient regions of the brain, and ancestral forms of play and laughter existed in other animals eons before we humans came along with our ‘ha-ha-has’ and verbal repartee," says Jaak Panksepp, a neuroscientist at Bowling Green State University.

When chimps play and chase each other, they pant in a manner that is strikingly like human laughter, Panksepp writes in the April 1 issue of the journal Science. Dogs have a similar response.

Rats chirp while they play, again in a way that resembles our giggles. Panksepp found in a previous study that when rats are playfully tickled, they chirp and bond socially with their human tickler. And they seem to like it, seeking to be tickled more. Apparently joyful rats also preferred to hang out with other chirpers.

GET THE STORY.

Author: Jimmy Akin

Jimmy was born in Texas, grew up nominally Protestant, but at age 20 experienced a profound conversion to Christ. Planning on becoming a Protestant seminary professor, he started an intensive study of the Bible. But the more he immersed himself in Scripture the more he found to support the Catholic faith, and in 1992 he entered the Catholic Church. His conversion story, "A Triumph and a Tragedy," is published in Surprised by Truth. Besides being an author, Jimmy is the Senior Apologist at Catholic Answers, a contributing editor to Catholic Answers Magazine, and a weekly guest on "Catholic Answers Live."

5 thoughts on “Animal Yucks”

  1. Lab rats worldwide are wondering how you sign up for the tickling study. Way better than being injected with HIV or cancer.

  2. Commander Data called. He would like to see a schematic for those ancient neural circuits.

  3. My rats definitely do that. If I’m right about what they’re talking about, it’s called bruxing. Rats grind their teeth together when they’re contented, and some of them even bulge their eyes out if they’re REALLY pleased. It’s pretty funny to watch. Though they might be talking about the way they make little ‘foof-ing’ sounds at one another sometimes….

  5. “they chirp and bond socially with their human tickler”
    That, for me, is an animal “yuck” in the real sense of the word. That and their hairless tails. Double yuck.

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