primate laughter advanced

8/6/2019 Primate Laughter Advanced

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W E B S I T E© Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2009

Our primate ancestors have beenlaughing for 10 million years

A study that involved tickling apes suggests

laughter is not a uniquely human trait after all

Ian Sample, science correspondent

4 June, 2009

Thersthootsoflaughterfromanancient

ancestor of humans rippled across the land at

least 10 million years ago, according to a study

of giggling primates.

Researchers used recordings of apes and babies

being tickled to trace the origins of laughter back

to the last common ancestor that humans shared

with the modern great apes, which include

chimpanzees, gorillas and orang-utans.

Thendingchallengestheviewthatlaughteris

a uniquely human trait, suggesting instead that

it emerged long before humans split from the

evolutionary path that led to our primate cousins,

between 10m and 16m years ago.

“In humans, laughing is a complex and

intriguing expression. It can be the strongest

way of expressing how much we are enjoying

ourselves, but it can also be used in other

contexts, like mocking,” said Marina Davila Ross,

a psychologist at Portsmouth University. “I was

interested in whether laughing had a pre-human

basis, whether it emerged earlier on than we did.”

Davila Ross travelled to seven zoos around

Europe and visited a wildlife reserve in Sabah,

Borneo, to record baby and juvenile apes while

their caretakers tickled them. Great apes are

known to make noises that are similar to laughter

when they are excited and while they are playing

with each other.

“The caretakers play with the apes all the time

and tickling is a very important part of that. There

are certain body parts that are more ticklish than

others, depending on the individual. Some were

tickled on their necks or armpits, while others

offered their feet to be tickled,” said Davila Ross.

In total, Davila Ross collected recordings of

mirth from 21 chimps, gorillas, orang-utans and

bonobos and added recordings of three babies

that were tickled to make them laugh.

To analyze the recordings, the team fed them into

a computer program that arranged them on an

“evolutionary tree” based on how related to each

other they seemed to be. Remarkably,

the laughter recorded from different primates

linked together in a way that matched the

evolutionary tree linking all of the species to one

common ancestor.

“Our evolutionary tree based on these acoustic

recordings alone showed that humans were

closest to chimps and bonobos, but furthest

from orang-utans, with gorillas somewhere

intermediate. And that is what you see in the

well-established evolutionary tree of great apes,”

said Davila Ross. “What this shows is strong

evidence to suggest that laughing comes from a

common primate ancestor.”

Writing in the journal Current Biology , the

researchers describe how the earliest laughter-

like sounds were shorter and noisier, but with

time became longer and clearer as the great

apes evolved.

Human laughter sounds very different from the

noises produced by great apes. The differences

are thought to have arisen when certain acoustic

features became exaggerated in early humans

after they split from ancestors they shared with

chimps and bonobos around 5.5m years ago.

Humans laugh as they exhale, but chimps can

laugh as they breathe in as well. The human

laugh is also produced by more regular vibrations

of the vocal cords than in any of the apes.

Few studies have been carried out into the role

of laughter in primates, but at least one study

has suggested that it is important in expressing

excitement and arousal. Laughing might also

have been important for bonding within groups

of animals.

Robert Provine, a psychologist and neuroscientist

at the University of Maryland and author of the

book Laughter: A Scientifc Investigation, said

students who took part in his own studies likened

Primates have been laughing for 10m years

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chimp “laughter” to a dog panting, an asthma

attack or hyperventilation. Some even thought

the noise was caused by someone sawing.

“The means of production of human and ape

laughter are as different as the sound, with the

ape vocalization being produced during both

inward and outward breaths, while humans

parseanoutwardbreathinto‘ha-ha’,”hesaid.

“The simplicity and stereotypy of laughter

provides a valuable tool with which to trace

vocal evolution, much as simpler systems of

molecular biology are useful for investigating

complex life processes,” he added.

In March 2009, researchers reported that

a chimp at a zoo in Sweden had started to

challengescientists’viewsabouttheunique

nature of human behaviour. The 31-year-old

male, Santino, regularly displayed thuggish

behaviour by preparing piles of rocks while

the zoo was closed and then throwing them at

visitors when the gates opened. The chimp has

since been castrated.

Zookeepers at the Smithsonian National Zoo

in Washington DC have reported another

human trait in one of its long-time residents,

Bonnie, a 30-year-old orang-utan. Researchers

believe Bonnie learned to whistle by copyingthe zookeepers. Although she is unable to hold

a tune, other apes at the zoo have reportedly

begun copying her.

© Guardian News & Media 2009

First published in The Guardian, 04/06/09

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Comprehension check3

1. According to the results of the study ...

a. … apes are extremely ticklish.

b. … laughter is not only a human characteristic.

c. … apes should not be kept in a zoo.

2. Humans laugh ...

a. … without using their vocal chords.

b. … when they breathe out.

c. … when they hyperventilate.

3. Apes laugh ...

a. … in the same way that dogs pant.

b. … when they are happy.

c. … when they are excited.

4. The apes recorded for the study live ...

a. … at Portsmouth University.

b. … in the jungle.

c. … in captivity.

5. How many apes were recorded laughing?

a. 21

b. 24

c. 23

6. The researcher at Portsmouth University is ...

a. … a neuroscientist.

b. … a zookeeper.

c. … a psychologist.

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Choose the correct answer according to the information in the article.



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Level 3 Advanced

Match the halves of the phrases then check your answers by nding them in the article. Notice in which

context they were used and then write your own example sentences for at least four of the phrases.

Language: Phrases4

Discussion: What’s your opinion?5

Read the four statements and mark your opinion by placing a cross on each line. Be prepared to justify and

talk about your opinions in a follow-up discussion.

1. Weshouldnottryto‘humanize’animalsbysearchingforhumantraitsintheirbehaviour.

2. Great apes should not be kept in zoos.

3. The money used to fund this study would have been better spent on medical research.

4. Apesare‘cleverer’thanwecurrentlyrealize.

1. to hold tool

2. a hoot of production

3. a valuable human trait

4. a uniquely path

5. an evolutionary behaviour

6. a common a tune

7. a means of laughter

8. to display thuggish ancestor

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strongly agree not sure strongly disagree




Webquest: Laughter recordings6

Listen to the laughter recordings here:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2009/jun/04/laughter-primates-apes-evolution-tickling

• Closeyoureyeswhileyoulistenthentrytodescribethesoundyouhavejustheard.

• WatchtheshortvideothatcanbefoundatthesameURL.Describewhatyoucanseeandhear.



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Level 3 Advanced

2 Key words

1. c

2. f

3. h

4. g

5. n

6. m

7. l8. b

9. j

10. k

11. a

12. e

13. o

14. i

15. d

3 Comprehension check

1. b

2. b

3. c

4. c

5. a

6. c

4 Language: Phrases

1. to hold a tune

2. a hoot of laughter

3. a valuable tool

4. a uniquely human trait

5. an evolutionary path

6. a common ancestor

7. a means of production8. to display thuggish behaviour

Teacher’s notes

You can read the other two ape stories mentioned in the

article here:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2009/mar/09/chimp-

zoo-stones-science

http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Publications/ZooGoer/2009/1/

BrainyBonnie.cfm

And here you can watch a short video report about

an orang-utan who escaped from her cage in an

Australian zoo:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4bwp90dOTU

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/may/10/adelaide-

zoo-orang-utan-escape

KEY

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