It’s a giggle of dolphins
QUESTION Do any animals express happiness through laughter?
A 2020 review in the journal Bioacoustics identified at least 65 species, including primates, cows, dogs, foxes, seals, birds and mongooses, that make sounds which might be considered to be laughter.
The part of a dolphin’s brain that processes sound is ten times bigger than that of humans and they have a host of vocalisations. While play-fighting, dolphins emit a rhythmic pulsating sound accompanied by a whistle that they do not make in any other circumstances. It has been suggested this is laughter.
When elephants play, they will trumpet. Baby elephants make a sound that sounds like a human giggle.
Rats emit a long, ultrasonic chirping when engaging in rough play or if tickled. In the laboratory, they have been shown to chirp before receiving a narcotic.
When excited or playful, a dog may exhibit rhythmic panting. It is a matter of debate whether this is a genuine laugh.
Laughter isn’t confined to mammals. The New Zealand kea parrot makes a warbling sound that signals a playful state. The Australian magpie has a wide range of vocalisations, but uses a specific chattering sound only during play.
In 2009, Marina Davila-Ross, a psychologist at the University of Portsmouth, conducted a series of experiments in which she tickled infant and juvenile primates, including orangutans, gorillas and chimpanzees. They responded by laughing — technically called tickleinduced vocalisations.
She suggests that humans inherited the ability to laugh from our last common ancestor with the great apes, who lived between ten and 16 million years ago.
Laughter may be important for some animals. Rough-and-tumble play can resemble fighting, so play sounds can help emphasise that it is not aggressive.
Dr Ian Smith, Cambridge.
QUESTION How did colourful surnames such as Green and White come about?
The use of surnames was one of the cultural results of the Norman Conquest.
Surnames developed over the next few centuries based on geographic features such as Stone, Wood, hill, Forest, Field or Green; place names such as Wyndham, derived from Wymondham in Norfolk; an occupation such as Miller, Butcher, Farmer and Fisher; or from the name of the oldest male (‘-son’ names).
Surnames could be derived from a physical characteristic, such as grey, silver, brown, white or black hair. The same might apply to eye or skin colour.
Derivatives of red are common in Scotland: Reid and Reed from Scots and arguably Roy from Gaelic.
The Celts were noted for their fair hair and the surname Bowie comes from the
Gaelic buidhe, meaning yellow haired. The Welsh for grey is llwyd, which became Lloyd as a first and last name. Blewitt is another colour-inspired surname, from the Middle english bluet, meaning a
bluish woollen cloth, or bleuet, cornflower. It might refer to someone who habitually wore blue or had blue eyes.
Alison Hewson, Rugeley, Staffs.
QUESTION Is there a Romanov descendant who would take the Russian throne if the monarchy were to be restored?
UNDeR Russian succession law, no one from the surviving Romanov clan can legitimately claim the Russian throne.
This is because they or their ancestors were born to couples in morganatic marriages, where one spouse is of a lower rank. Neither they nor their children have any claim to the possessions or title of the spouse of higher rank.
The Romanovs ruled Russia for more than 300 years, with the first of the line, Michael I, taking the throne in 1613.
Their power was expanded under Peter the Great and through the 18th century by rulers including empress elizabeth and Catherine the Great.
The dynasty collapsed in 1917 during the Russian Revolution when the last Tsar, Nicholas II, abdicated and was later executed with his wife and children.
There are three surviving branches of the Romanov family: the Kirillovich, Nikolaevich and Mikhailovich. All have living descendants who would have a significant claim to the throne if the rules were altered.
The Kirillovich are descendants of Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich, grandson of Tsar Alexander II, who ruled
Russia from 1855 until 1881. Grand Duke Kirill caused a scandal in 1905 when he married his cousin, Princess Victoria Melita of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, without the consent of Tsar Nicholas II.
The head of the Kirillovich branch is Maria Vladimirovna, who has styled herself the Grand Duchess of Russia and her Imperial highness.
The Nikolaevich faction are descendants of Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolaevich Sr, third son of Nicholas I, who ruled Russia from 1825 until 1855.
The last male descendants were his two great-grandsons, Prince Nicholas Romanovich and Prince Dmitry Romanovich, who died in recent years.
Nicholas had three daughters, the eldest of whom is Princess Natalia Nikolaevna Romanova.
The Grand Duchess has refused to acknowledge the Nikolaevich branch’s claim to the throne.
The Mikhailovich family are descendants of Grand Duke Mikhail Nikolaevich, fourth son of Nicholas I.
Other than Mikhail, who entered a morganatic marriage and left Russia long before 1917, and Alexander, admiral of the Imperial Russian Navy, the family was slaughtered by the Bolsheviks.
Alexander escaped from Crimea in 1918 with his family. One of his grandsons, Prince Andrey Andreevich Romanov, an American author, was the oldest surviving Romanov until his death last year.
his sister Princess Olga Andreevna Romanoff, once considered a potential bride for Prince Charles, is head of the Romanov Family Association, which deals with dynastic matters.