- Researchers reanalyzed tickling recordings of 13 captive great apes and compared them with children’s giggles, finding similar rhythmic timing that likely traces back to a common ancestor about 15 million years ago.
- Human laughter has become faster and more flexible—ranging from polite chuckles to full-bodied guffaws—so we’re basically the “masters of laughter.”
- The study offers a playful new clue about how communication and speech evolved and encourages more comparisons of laughter across other animals.
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