Apes like to joke around too!

The importance of teasing, poking, and provocative behaviors among great apes is often overlooked. Most infants begin teasing others before they can say "mom." This behavior is considered a critical part of playful teasing for human interaction and development.

An infant needs to possess a sufficient level of social intelligence and be able to understand and evaluate that they can interfere with the expectations of others.

According to Popular Science Turkey, teasing behavior in human infants can begin at eight months of age, but humans are not the only primates capable of this. These types of joking have now been documented in four different great ape species. It is believed that these basic forms of joking have been evolving in the human lineage for at least 13 million years. These findings are included in a study published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences.

Isabelle Laumer, a primatologist and cognitive biologist and co-author of the paper working at UCLA and the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, says, "Great apes are excellent candidates for playful teasing."

"Because social play behaviors have been observed in these species that are closely related to us, and it has been seen that they understand the expectations of others in a relatively advanced way."

Teasing behavior exhibited at an early age often involves a form of surprise. Infants offer a toy object and then take it back. Psychologists call this behavior a provocative incongruity. Developmentally, it shows that an infant is beginning to understand that social rules or expectations can be violated.

In the new research, scientists working at institutes in Germany and the United States observed captive orangutans, chimpanzees, bonobos, and gorillas. By analyzing their natural social interactions, they examined behaviors that appeared to be playful or provocative. The research team monitored and noted the teasing behavior's individual actions, body movements, facial expressions, and how long the teased individual took to respond. They also looked for evidence that the teasing behavior was directed at a target, persisted or intensified, and that the teaser expected a response from the target, thereby assessing the intent of the individual performing the teasing behavior.

All four species exhibited intentionally provocative behaviors, and characteristics of play behavior frequently accompanied these actions. The research team identified 18 different teasing behaviors, such as tickling, poking, hair pulling, and hiding under an object. Most of these behaviors are intended to elicit a response from the target or at least capture their attention.

Erica Cartmill, an anthropologist and linguist and co-author of the paper working at UCLA and Indiana University, says, "It was common for the teasers to repeatedly wave, hit, or poke a part of their body or an object in the center of the target's field of vision, stare into their faces at close range, block their movements, pull their hair, or perform other behaviors that were extremely difficult for the target to ignore."

News Source: 12punto