When I was a kid my father called me the laughing hyena.”

“Well, but the laughing hyenas are in cages,” explained Carolyn May.

Spotted hyenas are often called “laughing hyenas” because their giggle vocalization sounds very much like hysterical human laughter.

They are often called “laughing hyenas,” yet their giggles indicate not that the caller is amused, but rather that it is frightened or being harassed.

“First thing you know, they’ll be locking you up as a couple of laughing hyenas, because you are making such a racket.”