# Two animal questions

**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-animal-questions/442778
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [March 26, 2008, 9:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-animal-questions/442778 "2008-03-26T09:52:44Z")
**Posts on this page:** 5
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)
#### Post date: [March 26, 2008, 9:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-animal-questions/442778/1 "2008-03-26T09:52:44Z")

</div>

1. Can apes be tickled?

2. What is the purpose of the ridges on top of a dog’s mouth? (Grip?)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)
#### Post date: [March 26, 2008, 10:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-animal-questions/442778/2 "2008-03-26T10:12:38Z")

</div>

[QUOTE=Sage Rat]

1. Can apes be tickled?  
[/QUOTE]

Any animal can be tickled. I think you mean: do they react to tickling similarly to the way humans do. 😉 The answer is “yes”, at least for great apes. One of the common requests apes make when they’re taught sign language is to be tickled. And they react similarly to humans. Young chimps can often be observed playing a game of tickle in the wild.

Not sure about the lesser apes, though.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![Staggerlee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/staggerlee/32/3134_2.png) [@Staggerlee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Staggerlee)
#### Post date: [March 26, 2008, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-animal-questions/442778/3 "2008-03-26T14:16:27Z")

</div>

[QUOTE=Sage Rat]  
2) What is the purpose of the ridges on top of a dog’s mouth? (Grip?)  
[/QUOTE]  
My ‘WAG’ would be that the ridges help to increase surface area, which helps when dogs are panting to cool down.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![Bear\_Nenno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bear_nenno/32/3358_2.png) [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)
#### Post date: [March 26, 2008, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-animal-questions/442778/4 "2008-03-26T14:32:07Z")

</div>

We have ridges on the roof of our mouths too. They’re called rugae.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![Astroboy14](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/df705f/32.png) [@Astroboy14](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Astroboy14)
#### Post date: [March 26, 2008, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-animal-questions/442778/5 "2008-03-26T15:05:18Z")

</div>

[QUOTE=Sage Rat]

1. What is the purpose of the ridges on top of a dog’s mouth? (Grip?)  
[/QUOTE]

Can’t answer the first one, but the answer to the second is obvious: To hold peanut butter! 😛