'I'll have what they're having': orangutans take their food cues from laughter

Order what the happy table is having — that, in essence, is what orangutans do. Researchers led by Indiana University's Professor Erica Cartmill worked with six captive orangutans at two zoos, teaching them to search bowls for a tasty treat hidden under materials such as moss or sawdust. On different days, just before a search, the apes heard either recordings of fellow orangutans playing and laughing, or plain sounds of wind — each soundtrack paired with a different covering material. On the fifth day both bowls held a treat, each under a different material, and the choice was theirs. Overall, the apes picked the material they had learned to link with laughter, with four of the six showing a clear preference. The study, published in Biology Letters, belongs to a bigger question — whether animals feel joy, and how feelings steer learning — and the team says the results suggest that hearing others having a good time made the food itself seem better. As primatologist Dr Adriano Lameira, who was not involved in the work, put it: 'I will have what they are having, please!'