Welcome back to ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Linda Wertheimer. Now, even if you've never heard a laughing hyena in the wild, you might recognize this hyena. Mr. CHEECH MARIN (Actor): (as Banzai) It's ...

Have you ever heard the phrase "laughing hyenas"? Do they really laugh? In a word, no. There are four kinds of hyenas _ aardwolf, brown, spotted and striped _ but only the spotted hyena makes sounds ...

· If you ever hear a spotted hyena making a sound, you might think it is laughing hysterically. It isn't. When a hyena is excited or scared, it lets out a noise that is a combination of a strange howl ...

Acoustic analysis of the 'giggle' sound made by spotted hyenas has revealed that the animals' laughter encodes information about age, dominance and identity. Researchers writing in the open access ...

When you think of a hyena, you make think of their signature laughter. But not all hyenas laugh. In fact, their laughter is actually a vocalization of distress, often used to signal threats or attacks ...