Did you know that laughter is so universal that even animals do it?

This subject is cool and thanks for sharing . I think all things are possible and why couldn't an animal laugh. They always do seem like they are having differnt types of feelings through out the day. There are times it looks like my pets are laughing and are sad.

My daughters Albino Catfish wave when they are happy. Its really fun to watch. My daughter says I have them so spoiled with toys, plants and their favorite foods that its not a surprise that they are usually happy. I rotate their foods, so one day a week they have to eat food that they don't think its good. We see dogs and cats run to their owner and lick their face. Cats purr and some for long periods of time. We use to have livestock and you cold tell when all the animals were happy, as you could hear the very peaceful quiet barn with an occasional little bleat or soft moo.

That scientists are now proving this doesn't surprise me at all. After all, I could swear my cats have been laughing at me regularly. They do that joke thing where they miouw to get out, then wait till I'm sat down again before miouwing to get back in ... and again ... and again. Why else would they do it other than to laugh at my expense?!

Thanks for sharing this. Whenever I play with dogs, I can see them smile.It may look as if they're just panting with their tongues lolling about, but when you look at their eyes, you'll see how happy they are. :) Next time I'll make sure to really listen, I might just hear them laugh. :)

People always laughed at me when I told them that my rats laughed! I also knew about dogs laughing; my dog is a very jolly soul :P

I always wondered that how animals laugh.coz when they r angry they make facial expressions but when they laugh we dont see any facial expressions,the only sigh of body language i recollect is wagging of tail and curling up of body especially in dogs.but one thing is sure that they too r creatures made by GOD so they too must be having all the emotion which other living beings have.But i am curies to know about their facial expressions.

Hi dragon54u, I recall an anecdotal newspaper story about a fellow who was sitting on his back porch watching the birds in his garden, He observed a Magpie sneak up and hide behind a bunch of grass. Then when a group of young Galahs was ambling about on the lawn and came near to where the Magpie was hiding, the Magpie jumped up from behind the grass with a loud squawk and wings spread wide - and seemingly scared the pants off the Galahs who all fell all over each other and jumped and flapped away across the lawn. And then they did it again, and again, and again. So birds and other animals amuse themselves by playing games, just the same as human children. I've read about young crows which invented all sorts of games like "follow the leader", "king of the mountain", and even body-surfing down a grass hill! If they can have that much fun, then surely they have similar emotional experiences to humans - they might not express themselves by "laughing" with the same noises that we do, but they probably all have their own way of releasing all that pent-up delight, just like us.

Thanks for the lovely discussion dragon. I used to keep rats as pets, not in a cage but just free in my bedroom lol. (In my opinion they were far too intelligent and active to be kept in a small cage.) They definately had a sense of humour, and they actually used to play basic practical jokes on me. They were extremely intuitive too - whenever I had a migraine they would come and lick my forehead, and they once attacked a boyfriend I was having an argument with LOL. I've always been very much of the opinion that we humans are just another animal species, that's it. We're lucky enough to have opposable thumbs which have enabled us to make tools and start civilisations. (But when you think about that is that really so remarkable? Look at ants and bees for example...) I think it's just either human arrogance, ignorance or insecurity that makes people think we're in some way superior to other species.

oh, never knew that before. i wonder if rats laugh at us when kill one another

I like how people try to do stuff like this. I like the rat thing of coarse but is dog panting REALLY a sign of laughter? O.o... I know all mammals have a way to show pleasure, like dogs wagging their tails or cats purring and so on. I'm sure that the noise that rats make is their sign of pleasure.

Well, sure I knew that animals laugh. Haven't you ever watched Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles? Actually, I had heard something about chimps laughing, but I don't think that I have ever heard of dogs or rats laughing.

Funny, but you know what? I often tell my family that my dog is laughing when Im playing with him, it's not because I have an idea that they too use to laugh but because I see in my dog's expression the happiness and fulfillment he has when we were playing and when I spend time with him. I have a respect for every alive creature weather big or small they have the right to live their way just like us. It's just good to know that they too laugh just like us... Be happy always!!

all living forms will have a language of communication so that they can laugh .

That's hilarious. I'd love to hear a chimpanzee laughing. That would cheer everyone up. What about people that laugh like horses? What category do they come under?

That is really cool. I mean I only see animals laughing in cartoon shows... LOL. Yeah, I bet animals laugh too. A lot of animals are actually very smart.

I did not but I do think its great that animals do laugh too. I always thought our dog laughed but was not sure, because he did make laughing sounds just like we do. so we arent as unique as we thought. lol.

I think it's cool to see animals laugh. Well I'm still waiting for our guinea pig to laugh.

I think any pet parent can see the same emotions in their pets that they themselves exhibit. I know my furbabies grieve when we lose one of them although often they know before I do that it's that time for the older pet.