Humans and apes share ancient laughter rhythm

UK scientists discovered humans and great apes maintain a similar rhythm in their laughter, even after 15 million years of separate evolution.

Researchers examined hundreds of recordings of laughter from human children and young apes, chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas, and orangutans, during play. They focused on the timing and rhythm within each laugh, and found that despite differences, the basic pattern remained consistent across species.

Chimpanzees and bonobos, which are closely related to humans, exhibited faster laughter patterns resembling those of people. Gorillas and orangutans laughed more slowly, but still followed the same fundamental timing structure. Chiara De Gregorio, a zoologist at the University of Warwick, explained that people are similar to great apes because they have been laughing in a comparable way for 15 million years. Humans differ from apes in their ability to control laughter for social purposes.

People can vary the volume and tone of their laughter to suit a situation, whereas apes demonstrate less of this flexibility. The study, published in Communications Biology, proposes that this shared laughter pattern originated with a common ancestor of humans and great apes. Scientists believe that this ancient form of laughter may have contributed to the development of human speech.

Because laughter requires controlled breathing and vocal timing, researchers suggest it could have prepared the brain and voice for the complexities of language.