Ticklish Sharks?

Did you know that there are two types of tickling and these scientific terms were coined in 1897 by head shrinkers Stanely Hall and Arthur Allin? Me neither, but here they are...

Gargalesis: “harder, laughter-inducing tickling, and involves the repeated application of high pressure to sensitive areas. This "heavy tickle" is often associated with play and laughter. Response to the gargalesis type of tickle is likely limited to humans and primates…it is usually impossible to produce gargalesthesia response on oneself.”

Right, Ok, Stay With Me...Keep Reading....

Knismesis: “the light, feather-like type of tickling…generally does not induce laughter and is often accompanied by an itching sensation…requires low levels of stimulation to sensitive parts of the body, and can be triggered by a light touch or by a light electrical current. Knismesis can be triggered by crawling insects, prompting scratching or rubbing, thereby removing the pest. It is possible that this function explains why knismesis produces a similar response in animals. In a famous example, described in Peter Benchley's Shark!, it is possible to tickle the area just under the snout of a great white shark, putting it into a near-hypnotic trance.”

OK…what? Who is crazy enough to think of that experiment?

“Hey Authur, lets see if a great white shark is ticklish…I’m just going to gently and lightly tickle his under snout…right below his 5000 rows of razor sharp teeth just to see if it calms down this blood thirsty crazed killer. Opps! I better put a band-aid on that paper cut of mine before I start…”

Pure genius, I bet that experiment was over fast...

Look It Up: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knismesis_and_gargalesis

Kimdianna Jones