Paw Print
Champions of the Heart.Passions and Impressions... all things canine, feline, equine and more.
Contagious Yawning
I’ve always found it amusing that when one of my dogs yawn the other ones big yawn is not too far off, I assumed they were both lazy as I yawned along with them. I was surprised to have recently read an article about a study published in the Biology Letters that found that human yawns are contagious to dogs, a sign that man’s best friend might be capable of empathy. Apparently dogs lack a sense of self, a prerequisite for understanding the feelings of others - REALLY???? My dogs have always been empathetic and aware of my feelings, happy or sad. According to the article unlike chimpanzees and possibly elephants and dolphins, dogs do not recognize themselves in the mirror, a classic test of self- awareness. Only humans and chimps are known to yawn contagiously. The study consisted of 29 dogs; each dog watched a researcher yawn and then, in the control portion of the test the same researcher just opened his mouth. 21 of the 29 dogs yawned after the researcher yawned, no dogs yawned during the control test.
Could it actually be that one of the 29 dogs in the test just happened to yawn when the researcher yawned and the other 20 dogs yawned because of another dog and not the human at all?
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 10/04/08 at 01:59 PM
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