Coventry, England – A video shows a gorilla being tickled by a man and laughing, alongside research into how laughter in great apes may relate to human evolution.

Apes and humans are described as having shared laughter for around 15 million years, with researchers suggesting laughter may contain evolutionary clues stretching back that far.

A University of Warwick study states that great apes, including chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas, and orangutans, all laugh. The research explores how laughter may have changed over millions of years and how it may relate to the evolution of human speech.

Scientists analysed laughter recordings from orangutans, gorillas, bonobos, chimpanzees, and humans. Across 140 sequences, they found a shared pattern: all species produce laughter using evenly spaced rhythmic intervals between sounds.

Researchers suggest this rhythmic structure may come from a common ancestor around 15 million years ago and has remained largely unchanged across living great apes.

One researcher explained that speech leaves no fossils and exists only in humans, but laughter provides a rare evolutionary clue to vocal development across species. Comparing laughter shows a basic rhythm that has stayed stable since the last common ancestor.

The study also found that human laughter has become faster, more variable, and more controlled depending on context. Humans can adjust laughter in different social situations, including tickling, polite laughter, nervous laughter, and group laughter.

Researchers link this increasing control to the evolution of speech, suggesting vocal timing control was an important step in language development.

Another researcher stated that laughter provides a window into vocal evolution across hominids, showing gradual development of vocal control rather than sudden change in early humans.

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