Study Finds Human and Ape Laughter Share Similar Rhythms

Researchers tickled 13 captive apes, including gorillas, orangutans, chimpanzees and bonobos, and recorded their vocalizations. They also captured the giggles of four young children during play at home and reexamined decades-old recordings of ape vocalizations. The study found that the chuckles of humans and great apes follow similar rhythms, with regular timing between laughs.

Chiara De Gregorio, a primatologist at the University of Warwick in England, said the shared pattern indicates laughter has persisted in similar form for roughly 15 million years. “In a way, we are very similar to other great apes because we’ve been laughing in a similar way for 15 million years,” she said. The findings were published Thursday in the journal Communications Biology.

Human laughter has grown faster and more complex than ape vocalizations, and it varies by social context, from a polite chuckle to a full-bodied guffaw. ” Brittany Florkiewicz, who studies animal communication at Lyon College and was not involved in the research, said the results align with expectations and highlight the need for further recordings.

She suggested comparable data from dogs, horses and cats could clarify how laughter evolved across species.

The study adds to efforts to trace the origins of human communication by examining sounds that do not fossilize. Researchers noted that laughter conveys playful emotion without words and that many animals produce similar vocalizations, though most do not match human timing patterns.