A dog confidently tries to fit through the doorway with a stick that's far too long, a cat dramatically tumbles off the kitchen counter and gets up as if nothing happened, a parrot insults the family pet with the gusto of a trooper. How can we not laugh?
Animals can be hilarious without even trying. There's no script, no build-up, no punchline, just pure spontaneous comedy. Perhaps the spontaneity is exactly what makes them so funny. The provide an element of surprise... something experts say is the core engine of humor.
Humans can plan this element of surprise when telling jokes. For example, a good comedian will structure a joke so that the audience believes one thing to be true and then gradually reveal that something else is actually true. In short, it's conciseness, misdirection and then a punch word or phrase at the last possible moment.
Animals don't do this. They just go about their daily lives, and drop comedic bombs without even knowing it. For them, being funny comes naturally. That's often because we understand them well enough to predict some of their behavior, but not well enough to know what they'll do next.
Another reason animals make us laugh so much comes down to something experts refer to as anthropomorphism. It's when we attribute human traits to inhuman characters, typically animals. So when our dog gets into the pantry, and we arrive home to empty packets of chips, we don't just see a dog...
We see a guilty suspect staring back at us, while trying oh-so-hard to pretend that all is well. We read their eyes, ears, tail, and expression in the same way we would a fellow human being's features.
The animal kingdom, according to social media, is filled with characters playing roles, facing troubles, and working jobs, just like us.
We have the taxpayer: a fox or raccoon depicted driving cars, drinking coffee, and stressing over bills. We have the judge: a cat sitting across the room, giving their human a look of pure disappointment. And we have the unemployed, lazy housemate: a dog on its hind legs or slouching on the couch, while the bills pile up on the kitchen counter.
Animals also teach us not to take life so seriously. They show us how to be free, silly and present in the moment.
"Whether rolling in catnip or pouncing on strings, our cats jump to play fully absorbed in their game without worries about how they may appear to us or others watching them," writes Vint Virga, a veterinarian specializing in behavioral medicine, and the author of The Soul of All Living Creatures. "Likewise, our dogs while chasing a ball, sniffing at lampposts, or gnawing a bone relish their pastimes without concern for how they may look to passersby."
Virga believes we should take a page out of our pets' books. By letting go of our inner critic and the judgments of others, he says, we can more fully embrace those times we enjoy. And while animals encourage us to play, they also teach us that we should rest.
"Taking a cue from our dogs and cats, the lions at the zoo, a hawk perched in a tree overlooking the road that we glimpse from the car, we can take quiet moments to rest for a bit and give ourselves time to relax and reflect," Virga writes.
