Yawn calls yawn. It is well known that yawning is contagious, but that this also applies to dogs is an absolute novelty. This was discovered by a Swedish study by Lund University, recently published in the journal Animal Cognition. Even our 4-legged friends do not resist the "contagion" of yawning, but only become susceptible with increasing age.
He is about to end up run over, his mother saves him
Yawn calls yawn. It is well known that yawning is contagious, but that this also applies to dogs is an absolute novelty. One found out Swedish study from Lund University, recently published in the journal Animal Cognition. Also our 4-legged friends cannot resist the "contagion" of yawning, but they become susceptible only with increasing age.
Just like children, which begin to yawn at about 4 years old only after seeing adults do it and learning to emulate this action, even dogs would learn to yawn from their owners as early as puppies. The team of experts established this by analyzing the behavior of 35 dogs, aged 4-14 months, in contact first with a family member and then with a stranger. After playing in silence for five minutes, the masters imitated the facial expression of a yawn, but without the inhale and exhale. After a few minutes, however, they made a complete yawn, a reflection of a deep inhalation and exhalation of the breath.
Result? During the experiments 69% of dogs yawned in response to the human act. However, when the results were broken down by age, the researchers also found that dogs younger than 7 months were less "infected" by yawning than men, with just 39% of the cases in which the act was been replicated (and only in the next five minutes by the human yawn). This suggests that yawning contagion is a developmental process, which is shared by both humans and some animals.
In fact, as Live Science explains, a few years ago a study conducted on 29 dogs had shown that 72% of dogs yawned after seeing their owner perform the same act. However, subsequent follow-up studies failed to replicate the results. At least until today, with the Swedish research having managed to confirm the hypothesis that dogs start yawning out of empathy, imitating men. In short, when our trusted friend yawns, it may not simply be a stress response.
Roberta Ragni
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