I have had many, many animal companions over the years (no, I'm not counting husband and children, thank you). There are several pets that come to mind when we're talking about animals having a sense of humor.

They certainly do. My horse, Scout, for example. I lived on a farm during my teens, and Scout and I spent a lot of time together. He was a clown and a tease. If you dropped the lead on the halter, he would walk just fast enough that you couldn't catch up to him, no matter how fast you ran (and if you stopped to catch your breath, he'd stop, too, and wait for you, then move on again, just out of reach).

When I'd go out to the pasture to say hello, he'd lie down on the ground, all four feet in the air, and try to squirm under the fence where the ground went down in a bit of a dip. He knew he looked ridiculous and I think he did it just for effect--he knew he couldn't get under it. But he certainly knew how funny I found it to see all those legs in the air, as he tried to wiggle under the bottom rail. Talk about ungainly.

He'd race up to a low-lying branch of a tree, stop, and then look back at you as if to say, "Hah! Fooled ya! You thought I was going to go under it, didn't you?" and curl his lip just a bit.

The dog I live with now has a sense of humor, too, and she thinks it's so funny to race around the house, double back and fake out the cat, who knew she could outrun the dog any time. Having caught the cat, dog then sits back on her haunches, with that self-satisfied fast pant they do when they're laughing. The cat has no sense of humor whatsoever and stalks off in high dudgeon at having been outsmarted and slathered with dog spit. Again.

The other cat, however, is a laugh and a half. While all the above foolishness is taking place, she is positioning herself on the 6th or 7th step of the staircase, and as the dog comes by to express her self-congratulatory amusement to me, the cat does a drop-and-roll over the side, startling the dog and starting a free-for-all.

Meanwhile, I continue trundling along with my basket full of dried and folded laundry, trying to get upstairs with it without breaking my neck. An event which I'm sure the animals would find hilarious.