Directions: Read the text and answer the questions below. Then, write a nonfiction summary of the text. We practiced writing a nonfiction summary during Live Lesson. You may refer to any of those materials to help you. Please write in complete sentences. Do Animals Laugh? It seems so: dolphins do it, chimps do it, even laboratory rats do it. But why? Taken from ReadWorks What do you call a dog magician? A Labracadabra-dor! Ha! Now try telling that joke to your dog. Any reaction? “Man is the only animal that laughs and weeps; for he is the only animal that is struck with the difference between what things are, and what they ought to be,” wrote British author William Hazlitt in his 1818 essay, “On Wit and Humour.” Was Hazlitt right, or was he just displaying typical human hubris? Scientists today are trying to determine if animals do, in fact, laugh—and, if they do, what that laughter tells us. We know that some critters, particularly chimps and other apes, make vocalizations that look and sound like laughter. Of course, grinning dogs and cats are all over the internet. So, can beasts really laugh—and if they can, what are they laughing at? What’s the Purpose of Laughter? Animal laughter doesn’t seem out of the question. After all, many creatures seem to express a wide range of human-like emotions, and behavior research supports the idea that animals have emotions. But laughter is a particularly tricky trait to pin down. After all, what exactly is laughter—and what is its purpose, even in humans? In his not-at-all-funny essay, Hazlitt describes laughter as a “convulsive and involuntary movement, occasioned by mere surprise or contrast.” Think that’s a lame definition? Try coming up with your own. There are essentially two kinds of laughter. One is a response to physical stimulation like tickling, while the other is a more complex social reflex, often in reaction to incongruous concepts and situations. Tying the two together, laughs can perhaps be said to be the vocalization of delight, at least in some cases. For humans, this expression originates in ancient areas of the brain. We’re wired for playful joy at a primitive level. It seems that some other creatures are wired that way as well, especially for the responses associated with tickling. In the 1990s, Jaak Panksepp, a neuroscientist at Bowling Green State University in Ohio, tickled lab rats and found that they loved it! Using specialized equipment, Panksepp recorded their ultrasonic giggling, which is too high-pitched for the human ear to discern. When he was able to hear the rats’ vocalizations, Panksepp said they sounded like children playing. Do Dolphins Chuckle or Gorillas Guffaw? In 2004, researchers in Sweden noticed that dolphins made particular noises during play-fighting but not during real conflict. These sounds—short pulses followed by a whistle—seemed to communicate to the other dolphins that the roughhousing was not meant as a threat but rather was all in fun. Could those noises be dolphin laughs? Scientists have found that giggle-like behavior is most noticeable in playful species, such as apes, dogs, and even elephants. Perhaps one purpose of laughter for all living beings is to smooth social interactions. But do creatures—domestic or wild—have a sense of humor? Koko, the gorilla who famously learned sign language, seemed to think that physical clumsiness (as in slapstick comedy) was hilarious. So far, though, there’s no evidence that even highly intelligent animals appreciate sophisticated comedy. (Or maybe the joke’s on us! ) Nevertheless, as dogs, dolphins, and chimps no doubt already know, laughter is a joyful manifestation of what it means to be alive.
13 answers