We feel that the habit of laughing and joking is a quality that is found only in humans. But, there are some animals who strengthen the relationships among themselves through laughter and joking.
When you think about what is the quality that differentiates our species from other animals, perhaps the habit of laughing and joking comes at the top of this list of differences.
We like to laugh. To such an extent that enjoying comedy seems to be ingrained in the veins of our race. Newborn babies, who have been in this world for only three months, also laugh. Even small children enjoy it when their parents make funny faces. By the time they are eight months old, newborn babies learn to use their face, body and voice in such a way that even the elders can laugh.
After this, very soon the parents realize that their child has completely transformed into a clown. Children deliberately start playing with such things which they know should not be done and while doing such mischief, children often have a devilish smile on their face.
However, a new study has revealed that the human race is not alone in making fun of anyone on this earth. Many animals also play mischief among themselves. Make fun of each other. University of California Los Angeles researcher Isabelle Laumer, along with her colleagues, watched 75 hours of video of interactions between great apes.
These species of apes are the closest relatives of humans on earth. These include orangutans, chimpanzees, bonobos and gorillas. All the animals included in this study were living in zoos. His daily habits were recorded in these videos.
habit of teasing in animals
Animals of all these breeds were seen playing mischief with each other and teasing each other. Researchers recorded 18 different acts of mischief among these orangutans, chimpanzees, bonobos and gorillas. The five most frequently repeated habits include pinching, measuring, obstructing your partner’s passage, hitting your body on the other person, and pulling on other people’s body parts.
Some animals were seen repeatedly shaking their bodies or anything else in front of the faces of their companions. Some orangutans were found repeatedly pulling the hair of their companions.
Dogs can be trained to perform tricks such as jumping very quickly and then suddenly running away.
Isabel Laumer, the author of this study, says, “We observed that in these animals, often a teenage monkey would suddenly jump from behind an adult when he was looking for lice in his partner’s hair, or Both used to sit together. Many times these teenage animals would scratch or slap their elders on the back and sometimes they would surprise them by jumping suddenly.
Isabel says, “After this, these small animals used to wait for the reaction of their elders. Usually, the big animal that became the victim of this mischief used to ignore the actions of the children. Then he used to repeat the same mischiefs and teasing actions again and again. His actions became such that it became difficult to ignore them. Many times, these children would even hit the bodies of their elders with their entire bodies, so as to attract their attention.
According to researchers, this teasing behavior among other animals like orangutans, gorillas and chimpanzees was similar to that of small human children. He was doing these things deliberately, to irritate and anger him and he was doing this again and again and again. This sometimes involved startling playfulness, in which he was seen waiting for the reaction of the adult animal who was the victim of his mischief.
If we compare this with the behavior of human children, then it is like a child teasing the elders by sticking out his tongue and then running away to see how the elders respond to his actions.
Many scientists believe that such pranksterism is more common among animals than we know.
man’s four wild relatives
This method of teasing might have become the foundation for more complex and humorous acts.
Isabelle Laumer says, “Humping between humans requires very complex cognitive abilities.” You need theory of mind (the ability to see the world from someone else’s perspective). You need to be aware of social norms and have an understanding of how others will react to your actions and how you can defy others’ expectations.”
The other four major wild relatives of humans, i.e. orangutans, bonobos, chimpanzees and gorillas, are capable of playing mischief. This shows that when our common ancestors lived on this earth about 13 lakh years ago, they too must have had the habit of joking.
However, many scientists believe that this habit of laughing and joking is found on a much larger scale among animals. For example, in his book ‘The Descent of Man’, biologist Charles Darwin has written that dogs can also have the habit of clowning.
He writes, “If a piece of stick or any similar object is thrown towards a dog, it often carries it for some distance and then keeps it with itself and sits on the ground and waits until Does, until the dog’s owner goes to him to take the stick from him. As soon as the owner comes close to it, the dog picks up the stick again and runs away in triumph. He repeats such actions again and again and it seems that he enjoys repeating these pranks a lot.
habit of playing in animals
Such habits of play are also found in wolves and other species of animals related to dogs.
Anyone who owns a dog must have noticed that while playing, dogs take a deep breath and make a growling sound, which almost sounds like laughter. In a study conducted in 2005, animal behavior expert Patricia Simonet played similar recorded sounds in a dog shelter. He noticed that the dogs in the shelter home were listening very attentively to this ‘laughing’ sound of the dogs and this had reduced their stress a lot.
Marc Bekoff, professor emeritus of ecology and evolution at the University of Colorado, Boulder, US, says he has spent decades collecting data that shows dogs engage in the same mischievous behavior that Isabelle Laumer and her team have observed. Seen in gorillas, orangutans, chimpanzees and bonobos.
For example, when trying to play with a dog that doesn’t feel like playing, it makes a jumping gesture and then suddenly runs away.
“I’ve seen dogs, foxes, feral cats and wild wolves do things like this,” says Mark Bekoff.
Bekoff says that the truth is that during his career he has heard stories of many animals behaving like stand-up comedians and clowns. These mischief-making animals include horses, Asian black bears and red parrots.
rats enjoying fun
Meanwhile, other researchers have found that dolphins also make sounds expressing happiness while playing. Elephants also make noise while playing. Some parrots have been seen teasing other animals for fun. For example, surprising and disturbing a domestic dog by whistling.
There is also evidence that rats also like to laugh and make fun. For the past decade or more, Jeffrey Bergdorf, a research associate professor at Northwestern University in America, has been making a living by tickling rats. When rats are tickled, they make a whistling sound of pleasure, similar to someone laughing. After this he comes closer again and again to tickle.
Not only this, according to a separate study conducted by researchers at Humboldt University of Berlin, rats can also be trained to play hide and seek in exchange for tickling. Now Bergdorf and his team are busy using the results of this research for the treatment of depression.
“What we’ve learned is that animals are very alert when they vocalize,” says Jeffrey Bergdorf.
Rats have been found to make giggling sounds when tickled.
“My supervisor [neuroscientist Jacques Panksepp] always said that sports are great for the brain, and it’s true,” says Jeffrey Bergdorf. Their brains connect with this thing. Sports create new neural connections in the brain and create new consciousness. And that’s why I think when we’re in a mood of humor and mischief, we’re probably on our best behavior and that’s the best display of our personality.”
However, rats do like to be tickled though. But, is his loud laughter a proof that he has the capacity for humor? Most of the evidence for animals’ humor is based largely on limited experience. No large scale study has been done regarding these.
It is difficult to understand why an animal behaves in a particular way. So the gorillas, chimpanzees and orangutans included in Isabelle Laumer’s study were making a joke or they were reducing their stress. Were they starting a game or were they just trying to attract others’ attention?
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Marc Bekoff says, “Do I believe that animals have a sense of humor?” Yes, I think they have a sense of playfulness.
But he also admits that it is difficult to prove this.
“For example, I’ve seen many families where two dogs live together,” says Bekoff. When it’s time to feed them, a dog runs to the outside door and barks. After this the other dog runs to see who is there. Whereas the first dog comes back and eats the food of both. So you can say that the earlier dog has learned how to get more food.”
But, the question is, what role does the habit of joking play in the process of evolution of animals? It is believed among humans that laughter and joking create a bond between two humans. After all, what could be a better way to make friends than two people sharing a joke with each other?
Is it possible that laughter plays a similar role in animals too?
In response to this question, Isabelle says, “Humour can become a means of reducing distances among humans. It reduces social distances and strengthens relationships.
She says, “What we don’t know is that humor plays a similar role in animals like gorillas, chimpanzees and orangutans.” But, it is possible. To find out this for sure, we will have to do research on other groups of such animals and other species.
