Tickling Makes Us Human (Heck, It Makes Us Mammals)

“Pick a mammal. Squirrels engage in play that looks a lot like tickling. So do – of all species – elephants. So do rats … But only chimpanzee and human mothers gaze deeply into the eyes of their infants – and then tickle them. … It’s a social dance: Tickling is the way we and the chimps establish, without words, that we’re in this thing together.”