Before jokes, there was play. Laughter began as a breathy signal of safety, bonding, and shared emotion among our ancient ape ancestors.

Laughter is closely related to emotional intelligence: The roots of laughter can be traced back to our common ancestors with other great apes, living around 10 to 15 million years ago. These early primates likely exhibited rudimentary forms of laughter as a social signal during play, much like modern-day chimpanzees, bonobos, and gorillas. This “animal laughter” was not the sophisticated, rhythmic sound we associate with human laughter today but rather a series of breathy, panting vocalizations, often accompanied by physical play or tickling.

Human laughter later became more controlled, musical, symbolic, and contagious. But its roots are ancient. Long before comedy clubs and clever punchlines, our ape ancestors were already using breath, sound, and emotion to hold the group together.

Research comparing tickle-induced vocalizations in human infants and great apes supports this deep origin, tracing laughter-like sounds back to the common ancestor of humans and modern great apes around 10 to 16 million years ago.