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Human Laughter Up To 16 Million Years Old

Posted by samzenpus on from the a-pierolapithecus-catalaunicus-walks-into-a-bar dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Published today in the journal Current Biology, a new study shows that laughter is not a unique human trait, but a behavior shared by all great apes. Tickle a baby chimpanzee and it will giggle just like a human infant. This is because laughter evolved millions of years ago in one of our common ancestors, say scientists."

1 of 149 comments (clear)

  1. I thought it had already been tested on rats by Cochonou · · Score: 4, Interesting

    And that rats also giggled when tickled.
    A reference from 1998 might be uselful for those interested.