Researchers have begun to unravel the information and social content present in the hyena's famed laugh, which they say is only used in times of conflict. The pitch and variability of the giggles may be used to indicate age or social status, they say.
Younger hyenas tend to have high-pitched giggles, and dominant females of the strongly hierarchical clans tend to have a narrower range of sounds.
The work will be reported at a meeting of the Acoustical Society of America.
The rich social structure of hyena clans gives rise to many vocalisations, ranging from "whoops" that travel great distances to quiet grunts among close individuals.
But it is the laugh of spotted hyenas (Crocuta crocuta) that has given them their more common moniker of "laughing hyenas".
"This is a very complex society of nocturnal animals, so acoustics is a very important communication channel for them," says Nicolas Mathevon, who led the research.
It has been hypothesised by researchers studying hyenas in the wild that the laughing is not, in fact, a sign of good humour.
Yet it remains unclear what social information the short fits of laughter - or giggles, as the researchers call them - convey.
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