SHOTLIST VNR - MUST CREDIT UNIVERSITY OF VETERINARY MEDICINE, HANOVER 1. Gorilla being tickled and laughing under test conditions AP Television Hampshire, United Kingdom, June 3, 2009 2. SOUNDBITE: (English) Doctor Marina Davila-Ross "I was very much excited particularly after we have found out that laughter can be traced back all the way to ten, at least ten to sixteen million years. We've used the acoustic data in order to see how it has changed, what kind of changes occurred and when they occurred. We found that particularly over the last five million years there were a lot of changes occurring, and these changes led to human laughter becoming quite unique". VNR - MUST CREDIT UNIVERSITY OF VETERINARY MEDICINE, HANOVER 3. Wide of Chimps playing AP Television Hampshire, United Kingdom, June 3, 2009 4. Close of monitor showing sound waves of Bonobo laughter 5. UPSOUND: Bonobo laughter over various of Marina Davila-Ross checking sound waves 6. UPSOUND: Human baby laughter, over shoulder zoom of Marina Davila-Ross 6. SOUNDBITE: (English) Doctor Marina Davila-Ross "One very interesting thing we found in our laugh data was that gorillas and bonobo's can extend their exhalation phase when they are laughing so they are breathing out for a very long time and that is a characteristic that was thought to be humanly unique, it plays a very important role in speech for instance" AP Television File, Democratic Republic of Congo, Lola Ya bonobo sanctuary 3. UPSOUND: bonobo call 4. Various of female bonobos with babies 5. Wide of bonobos AP Television London, United Kingdom, January 21, 2009 6. Various of cast of Jenny the orangutan, the first ape Darwin saw 7. Mid shot pan up of human expressions Darwin used to compare with apes 8. Pan of crowd outside gorilla enclosure at London Zoo 9. Various of gorillas at London Zoo AP Television Kyoto, Japan, March 22, 2008 10. Various of chimp named Ayumu 11. Mid of chimp named Akira (father of Ayumu) 12. Close of chimp named Ayumu matching Chinese and Japanese characters to the colour denoting their meaning 13. Mid of chimp named Ai performing a more complex version of the test 14. Close of Ayumu in laboratory LEADIN: When it comes to laughter a study out today (4 June) shows that great apes and humans share a common ancestor that lived more than ten million years ago. Researchers used tickling to make a variety of apes and some human babies laugh. After analyzing the sounds, they concluded that the origin of laughter went far back in the evolutionary family tree. SHOTLIST This gorilla was tickled - literally - to take part in the laughter research. Since the Victorian era scientists have argued about the concept of natural selection and evolution. But now researchers say this playful scene reveals yet another extraordinary resemblance between ourselves and our furry cousins in the animal kingdom. We've all suspected that we may be related to the apes ever since the Victorians first began arguing over the concept of natural selection and evolution. But now scientists say this playful scene reveals yet another extraordinary resemblance between ourselves and our distant relatives in the animal kingdom. This gorilla, according to scientists, displays the same response that we do when we are tickled. It laughs. Apparently, that's how they signal it's playtime and not aggression. It doesn't sound much like human laughter, it's more like rapid panting, or slower noisy breathing or a short series of grunts. Dr Marina Davila Ross has spent years tickling and carefully documenting the behaviour of these apes and then making minutely detailed measurements of their vocal reactions. One in particular caught his attention. You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/868e0eae428c34a659ea693b8c87aa5e Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork

• published: 23 Jul 2015
• views: 0