🌅 Humans and Apes Have the Same Laugh

SOURCE

De Gregorio et al. (2026)

WHAT TO KNOW

• Researchers at the University of Warwick in the U.K. analyzed recordings of laughs produced by human children and four great ape species (orangutans, gorillas, bonobos, and chimpanzees), finding the laughs all share the same basic rhythm and sequential timing. The authors say their work suggests the basic rhythm of laughter has remained relatively unchanged for the past 15 million years, when the last common ancestor between humans and apes lived.

WHY IT MATTERS

• Great apes are humanity’s closest living ancestor, and species like orangutans, gorillas, bonobos, and chimpanzees all produce laughter-like vocalizations along with smile-like facial expressions. However, what distinguishes humans is our ability to voluntarily control our laughter depending on the context, including producing it in ways intended to communicate different things (e.g., small obligatory laughs in awkward settings or sarcastic laughs when we don’t actually find a joke very funny). The study found humans’ superior ability to control our vocalizations may have influenced the development of speech, challenging the idea that humans spontaneously developed advanced speech abilities.

CONNECT THE DOTS

• A 2024 study by researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles found great apes share another incredibly human trait: younger apes like to poke, tease, and pester their older friends and relatives. The study found young apes engage in a range of annoying behavior toward their elders, like hiding, hitting, hindering movement, offering and withdrawing a body part, and pulling on hair, all done in ways that are remarkably similar to human infants.