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Read This Post on Laughing Rats or Mail Me a Dollar, One of the Two
by Josh Clark
May 29, 2009
9 Comments | Add Comment
(c) iStockphoto/bonniej
Here at HSW we’re putting together a bunch of articles on happiness, which makes me all yellow smiley face. It looks like I’m jaundiced here I’m so happy. I’m writing a some of the articles in the happiness suite and there’s this weird thing that keeps popping up, laughing rats. Not just in congruous articles either — laughing rats were coming at me from all angles! Run for your life, yellow boy! Run!
It didn’t have too terribly much of an impact on me; I just thought in a most clinical and detached manner, “Huh, that’s odd,” and continued researching happiness. Then, in the throes of getting to the bottom of why we laugh when we’re tickled (no spoiler here, sucker; you’re going to have to wait to read the article), I came across a video of a rat actually laughing during a tickling from a benevolent human who could have just as easily smashed it with the heel of his fist. Immediate and swift was how I put my research on hold to prepare this blog post, with the sole intent of sharing this clip. What follows is the most endearing video of a rodent you will ever witness. Prepare yourself to love rats!
And heywhynot, here’s a video of a laughing baby too:
More on HowStuffWorks.com:
Can pets make you happier?
Are happy people healthier?
Can laughter cure illness?
*Dollars can be mailed to:
Josh Clark
c/o HowStuffWorks.com
3350 Peachtree Rd.
Atlanta, GA. 30326
Comments
9 Responses to “Read This Post on Laughing Rats or Mail Me a Dollar, One of the Two”
soniablue says: What is this, Josh…All Rat Friday?
Wait…I wonder if the rats would laugh if the cats tickled them before they ate them after being attracted to the cat pee…
Lyn says: How did they ask the rats if they enjoyed the tickling, and how did the rats answer ‘yes’? Rats of Nihm, here we come!
Josh Clark says: You’re beginning to see now, Soniablue.
OMG!
(lays on back kicking feet after two beers administered by cats)
Stefan Braham says: As a one-time owner of a rat, i can vouch that she was the most playful, brilliant and loving animal I have ever owned. They are also capable of metacognition, a trait once only thought capable of humans and high-functioning primates (and possibly crows, another frighteningly intelligent animal) – which solidifies my admiration for these animals, despite their hideously skeevy tails. I can only hope Sir Josh touches on this rare ability in the animal kingdom in a future blog.
And an all-rat Friday is a brilliant idea. It would follow in the footsteps of Monkey News by Karl Pilkington, of the Ricky Gervais Podcast fame. I urge you all to search ‘monkey news’ on YouTube (audio only) and prepare to laugh like a tickled rat.
Stefan Braham says: And you get no dollar from me, Josh. I patiently read all your blogs. Can I get a dollar from you for that?
[...] often have a way of popping back up again and again until you finally stop and pay attention? (Laughing rats and the fact that I have a speech impediment are two recent examples for me.) Lately, the notion of [...]
The rats are much more cute. Is that Salmon Rushdie?