According to a recent research published in the journal iScience, bottlenose dolphins have an “open mouth” expression that they use to communicate with each other during play like a human smile. When they smiled at their friends, they got a similar ‘smile’ back 33% of the time.
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The researchers recorded 22 bottlenose dolphins while they were playing in pairs and also playing with their human trainers. They found that the aquatic mammals used the open mouth expression when playing with each other, but not when playing with humans or on their own.
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Dolphins are social animals and can often be seen in groups of up to 15. They were also more likely to use the expression when their faces could be seen by their playmates.
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Did You Know?
Apart from humans, other species like chimpanzees are known to use facial expressions to show playfulness.
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