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According to one animal behaviorist, quoted in this San Diego Tribune column: Certainly, dogs, cats, parrots and horses respond to pleasure. (But) being tickled isn't actually pleasure. Think about it. Who likes being tickled? Most kids laugh, but at the same time (they) push the person away who's tickling them. True that. An animal will move after being touched, but it's a reflex, not a tickle response. However, this column from the Arizona Republic alludes to research at Bowling Green State University showing that "rats are ticklish and laugh in a high-pitched chirp." Lab assistant mental health
on that one -- probably not so good. According to Wikipedia, "gargalesis," the "hard tickling" when someone's feet, armpits, or other spots known solely to significant others are touched, probably occurs only in humans and primates. It seems that most animals do not possess the brain physiology for experiencing ticklishness. Research has shown that the human brain "distinguishes between sensations we create for ourselves and sensations others create for us," which seems to be a requisite capability for inducing the tickles. Perhaps encouraged by recent research showing that some animals may actually laugh, many people at least think they've noticed ticklishness in their pets. Who knows? Maybe research on the tickle response in other types of creatures will answer this question once and for all.
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