Smiling baby monkeys and the roots of laughter
Thursday, August 4, 2016 - 21:31
in Paleontology & Archaeology
When human and chimp infants are dozing, they sometimes show facial movements that resemble smiles. These facial expressions, called spontaneous smiles, are considered the evolutionary origin of real smiles and laughter. Researchers show that this not only happens to higher-order primates like humans and chimpanzees, but also in newborn Japanese macaques, which are more distant relatives in the evolutionary tree.