Orangutans prefer food associated with sounds of laughter, study suggests

What BBN said about it

1. 

   Hank Ledger · Lead AnchorThe claim under review: orangutans choose their food based on whether other orangutans sound like they're having a good time.

2. 

   Dale Bearman · Chief Skeptic & ContributorWhich is exactly how I chose my last restaurant. Took one look at the table giggling into their prosecco and thought, that's the place. I've been paying for it ever since.

3. 

   Hank Ledger · Lead AnchorThe Guardian reports that captive orangutans heard peers laughing before searching a bowl for a treat, and they valued the reward more highly.

4. 

   Dale Bearman · Chief Skeptic & ContributorSo a recording of laughter is basically a menu now.

5. 

   Hank Ledger · Lead AnchorThe evidence for: four of the six orangutans showed a clear preference for the bowl linked to laughter, and the study ran five consecutive days.

6. 

   Dale Bearman · Chief Skeptic & ContributorFour of six. And the other two, where were they that week? I want names, and I want their bowls.

7. 

   Hank Ledger · Lead AnchorThe catch is the control. Before the bowls, the team played either orangutans playing and laughing, or environmental sounds such as wind.

8. 

   Dale Bearman · Chief Skeptic & ContributorWind. Beaten by giggling in a published journal. Biology Letters, no less.

9. 

   Hank Ledger · Lead AnchorRating: Medium Bonkers. Real study, real apes, four of six. Two of them just wanted the food, and they're the only ones I trust.