Why Do We Laugh? 😆

Morning Chucklers!

Laughing is kinda… weird.

I mean, think about it, when someone says something mildly funny…

Suddenly you show your teeth.

And quickly force air repeatedly out of your mouth, over and over again!

So, what actually is laughter… and why do we do it?

When your abdominal muscles…

These things:

Start contracting over and over again.

Which pushes air out of your lungs and makes your breathing go “huh huh huh”.

Which can come out as a snort, wheeze or:

This can actually make your tummy area to hurt a lil bit.

Cause your abdominal muscles are contracting so much making you laugh!

Ok, so why do we do it?

Well, here's the thing…

We're not the only species that laughs.

Some smart scientist dudes in the late 90s did an experiment on a rat.

They set up an ultrasonic recorder right next to it (basically a big fancy microphone).

And then they started tickling the rat with a feather!

Ya, really.

And surprisingly, the recorder picked up little signs of what sounded like… laughter!

But it's not just rats.

At least 65 species of mostly mammals were also found to “laugh” similar to we do during play.

Including Chimps, Elephants, Dolphins and even some birds like Parrots!

The scientists think the ability to laugh is probably something we’ve shared with other animals for many tens of millions of years.

Maybe as a way of saying:

But human laughter is a little different.

As we laugh for many different reasons.

When were:

Laughter in humans has taken on more uses as we've become more social.

(Since splitting from our less social monkey ancestors)

Slowly becoming something not just used in play but within day to day speech!

Just try not to laugh TOO much…

It may start to hurt… lol.

Stay Cute,
Reece, Henry & Dylan 🌈

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