Besides chimps, hyenas, and people, can any other species smile?

Question

Besides chimps, hyenas, and people, can any other species smile?

Answer 1

I think ALL animals smile in their own ways.  it doesn't necessarily have to be with your mouth.  I think any type of body language that expresses joy is a smile.  

Cats do it with their eyes when they purr.  mouth stays the same, but I can definitely tell when my cat is expressing a smile by squinting her eyes.

Answer 2

Animals dont really "smile"..... If so I would say goats do

Answer 3

Wolves and dogs have a 'play face' which they make when happy and playful. They flatten their ears outwards and open their mouths, letting their tongues loll out, and pull the corners of the mouth up and back, which looks very like a smile. Here's an image:

http://www.whiteraven1.co.uk/wolf11.jpg

I am not aware of hyenas smiling - the spotted hyena 'laughs', but this is not a happy sound, like human laughter. It is a nervous sound, made by a subordinate to a higher-ranking individual, or when the animal feels threatened - when confronted by lions, for example. It's merely coincidence that it sounds similar to human laughter.

Dolphins look as though they are smiling, but this is simply the natural shape of their mouths, and does not change with emotion.

Despite what Jim says, chimps definitely do smile when happy - they do so with the mouth closed and lips pursed. When taught to 'smile' by humans, they bare their teeth in imitation of a human smile, which is actually a nervous or aggressive gesture among chimps.

This is a chimp smile:

http://i1.treknature.com/photos/6243/fri...

And this is what they do when taught by humans:

http://images.jupiterimages.com/common/d...

Answer 4

Only humans can smile.  A smile is brought on by a good or pleasing emotion or site or whatever, but it take intelligence.  Animals are not intelligent.  They do not smile.  Chimps are trained to "smile", but that's interpretive, cause most the time it does not look anything like a smile.  

When people say an animal smiles they are doing what is refereed to as transference.  When a person thinks an animal is doing something human based on the own emotional condition and state.  There is a word for it, anthropomorphism.

very cute sparrow, thanks

Answer 5

Dogs, wolves, and coyotes smile.  It is similar enough to a human smile that we can recognize it, and they can recognize ours.

I'm not talking about animals that have their mouths shaped as in a human smile.  I'm talking about a pleasant or happy expression of the face, expressing friendly or happy feelings.

Answer 6

I think sloths are always smiling ! but if they are hanging upside down at that moment u could say they are frowing !

Answer 7

Animals don't smile, we perceive certain twists of their face as a smile >>>>

Me

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a160/n...

Lizard smile

http://krlphotography.typepad.com/photos...

Gorilla

http://www.funtal.com/images/thumbnailit...

Dog

http://curiousanimals.net/wp-content/upl...

Monkey

http://i.pbase.com/u14/regael8/upload/41...

Answer 8

I think my dog smiles. She wags her tail,  tilts her head and sets her jaw in just such a way that I associate with her being in a happy mood. I often think she smiles with her whole self.

I had a cat once that I often thought smiled. He would curl up in a happy cuddle with me and his face was contented looking.

I think many animals must have a means of communicating general well-being.