Why Do Hyenas Laugh?

Actually hyenas don't actually laugh. However, there is a species of hyena called the laughing hyena. When this animal gets excited it does make a howling and clucking noise that sounds very similar to an insane laughter.

However, when a hyena 'laughs' it doesn't necessarily mean that they are happy. The hyena also makes this noise when it is feeling anxious or fearful, for example, when it is being chased by a lion.

Another myth is that hyena's are scavengers. This is not so. It often looks as thought the hyena is scavenging, when in fact the main scavenger in the jungle is the lion. The poor old hyena looks like it is scavenging, when it is in fact just surviving. The hyena knows that it can't take on a lion and so old Mr Lion gets first choice as to what he eats for dinner. The poor old hyena has to wait until the lion has finished and then he is allowed to eat as much as is left over.

Hyenas aren't really laughing, but some of the noises they make to
communicate sound like loud, crazy laughter. Hyenas are usually
scavengers, living on carrion, which is the rotting remains of dead
animals. (They have even been known to rob human graves for food.)
Sometimes hyenas do hunt live animals, however, attacking in packs.
Mostly nocturnal, which means that they rest during the day and are
active at night, hyenas have-on occasion-entered villages and attacked
livestock and sleeping people. The unsavory diet of the hyena gives it
a bad smell. It is also not an attractive animal, with scruffy fur and
hind legs that are much shorter than its forelegs, giving it a skulking
appearance. Still, hyenas perform a valuable service in Earth's food
chain as scavengers, ridding the environment of dead animal remains.

When they are excited, or when they were being attacked by another pack of hyenas, they make some sort of giggling noise. This is some sort of response to a sort of threat or when they were under attack. Also, when feeding frenzy begins, the hyenas would grow mad and start nipping each other for their share of food, they would make a shrill outbursts of laughter coming from their mouth.

Hyenas do not laugh they howl