Cross Breeds

Can animals think something is funny?

I'm being serious. Do they have a sense of humor like us humans? Can they laugh? I don't mean physically like hyenas do but can they react in a manner like us when we see something funny?

Public Comments

1. Animals don't really have the mental capacity to understand humour in the form of jokes. But many animals do laugh. I've witnessed for myself a woolly monkey laughing as he got tickled; remarkably human-like, he rolled around trying to grab the tickling hand to push it away while producing these rapid, shallow pants that were clearly analogous to laughter. Very cute! :) Even rats and dogs appear to have their own versions of laughter according to some scientists, and humans could laugh long before we started talking and developing language. This article is a brief but interesting summary: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7348880/
2. They have been known to play practical jokes. Raccoons are notorious for this, in captivity. I also knew a lory that gave a perfect immitation of a ringing telephone to watch its humans try to answer it.