Yawning is contagious! When people yawn, do animals yawn too?

When we see someone yawning, we often yawn involuntarily ourselves - this is no coincidence, and there is even a special term " yawn contagion" to describe this phenomenon. Spontaneous yawning may be to cool the brain and increase alertness; while yawn contagion means understanding and imitating the behavior of others, which is believed to be related to empathy .

Sometimes yawn contagion can even cross species . When we see cats and dogs yawning, we often yawn too, because humans have strong empathy. But if the other way around, when we yawn, is it possible that it will be contagious to our pets at home? It's possible.

Do you want to yawn when you see this? | Mai Mai

However, there are large differences in the empathy of different animals. It is easier for animals to catch yawns from their own kind, but many animals have also learned to empathize with humans during long-term domestication.

Dog: It really pays attention to you

When it comes to caring pets that can empathize with people, dogs are of course on the list.

Dog owners can play a game with friends: you and your friend yawn at the dog respectively, and see whose yawn the dog responds to. This will be a good opportunity to show the intimacy between you and the dog!

Looks really sleepy | Small towel

A study found that dogs can distinguish between yawns and normal mouth opening, and are more likely to catch a yawn when their owners yawn than when strangers yawn. This is because dogs have a closer emotional connection with their owners , making them more likely to empathize with their owners' emotions.

It is easy to feel sleepy when basking in the sun｜思义

Cat: It depends on my mood.

Compared to dogs, cats have been domesticated for a shorter time, and their ancestors did not have the habit of living in groups. They do give people the impression of being aloof - or, to put it another way, heartless. A study tested 26 cats and found that cats have difficulty distinguishing between yawns and general mouth opening movements, and will not respond to their owners' yawns .

Do you think I care? | pixabay.com

But research is just research, and pet owners will definitely have something to say.

Many people have witnessed cats yawning after people yawn. And I guess you would not agree that cats are completely incapable of empathy. Many cat owners have had this experience: when they feel sad, cats will stay by their side, as if to comfort them.

Are you feeling better? (Go cook for me) | pixabay.com

So what went wrong? Was it our wishful thinking, a flawed experimental design, or simply the wrong cat ?

In the same behavioral research, a famous cat named Ebisu was proven to be able to imitate human behavior very well, at least as well as dogs. The only difference between him and other cats may be that he is very greedy and always covets the snacks in the hands of the experimenter.

This is 11-year-old Ebisu (experimented in 2020), a and c are the owner's actions, b and d are her imitations. She can imitate every action of the owner, but she has to eat snacks after doing it｜Fumi Higaki

Do they not understand or do they not care ? I believe every cat owner has a scale in their heart. Otherwise, right now, try yawning at your cat?

Rodents and rabbits: Probably... no

Hamsters and rabbits are also popular pets, and they all yawn, but there is little research on yawn contagion in these animals.

Guinea Pig: I yawn first | Alexey Goral / wiki commons

However, rabbits and chinchillas are both highly social animals and theoretically have stronger empathy.

A study found that rats can be infected by their own yawns , and this is three-dimensional and all-round. Among the three "cues" of vision, hearing and smell, they are most sensitive to olfactory cues, followed by auditory cues, and visual cues even inhibit yawn contagion. In other words, when they smell or hear their companions yawning, they are more likely to yawn along; but when they see it, they are less likely to yawn.

The flower rats on the pet market are actually rats with special colors | pixabay.com

So, if you have multiple rabbits or hamsters in your home, you can observe their interactions, but don't expect them to react to your yawn.

Compared to them, popular pet hamsters tend to be more solitary and can certainly not be expected to be infected by people's yawns.

Birds: May react to their own kind

Yes, birds yawn, as do almost all vertebrates. Many birds also have a rich social life , so pets like budgies and munias are usually recommended to keep at least two (not just because they want to make money from you).

Budgies are happiest when they are in a small group chirping together | pixabay.com

In theory, such animals would also respond to the yawns of their own kind.

Cage-bred budgies are the first non-mammals to be shown to be able to transmit yawns between other parrots , and they do so whether they watch a cage mate yawning next to them or watch a video of a parrot yawning.

Other pets: Still to be studied

There are few studies on the behavior of animals such as geckos and corn snakes. Some studies have found contagious yawning in fighting fish (Betta splendens) and red-legged tortoises (Geochelone carbonaria).

It’s hard to imagine what such an elegant betta fish looks like when it yawns | pixabay.com

You may ask, how do fish yawn?

First, fish also open their mouths to take a deep breath - the behavior of yawning, evolutionarily speaking, can be traced back to jawed fish 400 million years ago . Second, air is not a necessary condition for yawning, and some marine mammals also yawn underwater.

Of course, you have to have more fun on the water | pixabay.com

Faced with all these strange yawns, species differences have never prevented humans from being infected by other species . Experiments have shown that for humans, the order of "susceptibility" to yawning is humans, apes, non-primate mammals, reptiles and birds, amphibians, and fish. So, even if you see your pet horned toad yawning and you can't help but follow suit, that's normal and there's nothing wrong with it!

Faced with such a gallery, Calendar Girl's mouth was wide open all afternoon | pixabay.com

In short, if your pet really reacts to your yawn, remember to show us (xuàn) in the comment section!

Calendar Girl's colleague was the first to show off that this photo was taken when the kitten yawned after seeing the owner yawn! However, when the owner tried to repeat the experiment, the kitten ignored her again...｜Mai Mai

References

[1] Gallup AC (2022) Animal Behavior 187:209-219

[2] Romero T et al. (2013) PLoS ONE 8(8):e71365

[3] Lombardo Aghishian AM (2019) [Master's thesis, City University of New York] CUNY Academic Works

[4] Moyaho A et al. (2015) Animal Cognition 18(1):279-290

[5] Gallup AC et al. (2015) Animal Cognition 18(5):1051-1058.

[6] Gallup AC & Wozny S (2022) Animals 12(15):1908

[7] Science.org: Why yawns are contagiousin in all kinds of animals. by Joosse T (2022)

Author: Maya Blue

Editor: Old Cat

This article comes from the Species Calendar, welcome to forward

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