Hyenas 'laugh'. Foxes 'giggle'. But do animals really joke, tease, engage in slapstick, and take delight in the ridiculous? Combining perspectives from philosophy, science, animal studies, and veterinary medicine, this is the first book to examine animals' sense of humor.

Challenging the long-held, Aristotelian belief that humor distinguishes human from animal, this multi-and interdisciplinary collection of essays takes seriously other animals' notions and enactments of funny. Beginning with collaborative dialogues between renowned scientists and thinkers, including Marc Bekoff, Carl Safina, and Sy Montgomery, the subsequent sections explore animal humor within science, the philosophy of mind, and ethics. Therein writers showcase empirical research in animal cognition, lab studies, philosophical reasoning, indigenous literatures and more, all deepening our understanding of this uncharted area of animal studies.

By focusing on animals' ability to experience positive emotions, this volume provides a refreshing alternative to the dominant view of animals as one-dimensional suffering subjects. In so doing, it not only opens up a more nuanced understanding of animal subjectivity that goes beyond ethological research, but also encourages us to reconsider our moral obligations to animals as creatures capable of joy and affective kinship.

A primer in animal humor, this non-anthropocentric account of jokes and jovality is an urgent step towards understanding the complex emotional lives of other species. It won't fail to surprise you.

Deborah Slicer is Professor Emerita of Philosophy and Graduate Director at the University of Montana, USA.

Kristian Cantens is Lecturer in Philosophy at Texas State University, USA.