What are hyenas laughing at? Questions you probably don’t know the answer to

(WTAJ) —Have you ever thought about asking a hyena, “What’s so funny?” Well, you’re not alone.

Despite common knowledge telling us that hyenas laugh, we’ve even seen it in movies, have you learned why they’re actually laughing? Let’s take a look at some questions you probably don’t know the answer to.

Which is wider, Australia or the moon?

“No way a continent could be wider than the moon!”

Well if you thought that you’re actually wrong. Despite it seeming like there is an obvious answer, they’re actually pretty close when it comes to the wideness. The moon sits at 3,400 km in diameter, but Australia is actually closer to 4,000 km .

The moon does have more surface area than the continent though. Another fun fact about the moon and Australia is that it appears to look “upside down” compared to how it’s seen in the U.S. While it’s not actually upside down it’s just how it’s seen when it’s in different hemispheres.

It can also appear bigger when it’s near the horizon , although it’s never actually bigger in one spot or the other.

Why can’t teeth heal themselves the way other body parts can?

The average adult has 32 permanent teeth made u p of incisors, canines, premolars and molars . Globally, roughly 2 billion people have permanent teeth with tooth decay and nearly 514 million children have tooth decay in their primary teeth.

Scrapes and bruises can heal themselves over time, but why is it that your pearly white teeth can’t? Well, it has to do with what your teeth are made of. A tooth is made up of four layers, enamel, dentin, cementum and tooth pulp. However, whilst they may look or appear to be similar to bones, bones contain marrow and blood vessels. That difference plays a huge role in why teeth cannot repair themself.

The enamel is the part of the tooth that’s most important for this topic. The enamel is the protective layer on each tooth that shields your teeth from bacteria. It’s also the hardest substance in your body . However, despite enamel being so strong it has no way of getting fresh oxygen or nutrients, due to the lack of blood vessels. Meaning that once a tooth is hurt it cannot be repaired by the body .

What are hyenas laughing at?

Despite common knowledge, not all hyenas think everything is funny. There are four species of hyenas and only one actually laughs . The spotted hyena is who always seems to be laughing at jokes. The other species, Aardwolf, striped hyena and the brown hyena, cannot laugh but have other distinct vocalization sounds.

For spotted hyenas, the laugh and giggle are ways that they communicate to their pack and to other creatures, but despite its name, it’s not a laughing matter. There are two interpretations of their laughs, one for the high-pitch and one for the low-pitch . The high-pitch laugh is used when hyenas are afraid and used as a warning or submission to another hyena. The low pitch is when a hyena is angry and the lower it gets the angrier they are.

According to a study done at the University of California , Berkeley, a hyena’s laugh can also include information about their age, individual identity and status in the clan. So, while they may not be laughing at the world’s greatest knock-knock joke they are using laughs to maintain a complex social life within their clans.

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