Study: Shared laughter rhythm in apes, humans dates to 15 million years ago

A University of Warwick study published June 25, 2026, in Nature's Communications Biology found that humans and all four other living great ape species produce laughter with evenly spaced rhythmic intervals between sounds. @Forbes reported that researchers recorded 140 laughter sequences from orangutans, gorillas, bonobos, chimpanzees and human children aged six months to seven years during controlled tickling sessions in home environments.

The underlying beat pattern remained consistent across species even as human laughter grew faster and more variable over evolutionary time.

Great apes have produced recognizable laughter for at least 15 million years, according to the study results. Humans alone among the species studied developed contextual control, enabling them to suppress, fake or modulate laughter based on social circumstances.

Adriano Lameira, associate professor at the university’s ApeTank research group, said laughter “provides a rare evolutionary window” into how vocal transformations occurred.

The findings challenge the view that human vocal control emerged suddenly. @Forbes reported that the study could be extended to gibbons and other primates to further trace the development of vocal control. A separate photograph from September 3, 2025, showed a baby Western lowland gorilla named Zeytin at the Polenezkoy Zoo in Istanbul.