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 Yawning
is contagious. If you see a
person yawn, you tend to yawn, too. But can
dogs also yawn when they see their
owners yawning? Interestingly, the answer is yes! According to a new
study, when dogs hear their
owners yawn, they do the same!
Researchers in Portugal studied
dogs to see if they have the capacity to empathize with humans. For their study,
the researchers chose 29 dogs that had lived
with their owners for at least six months. They
recorded the owners yawning
before playing it back to the dogs. The study said nearly half of
the dogs yawned when they heard a recording of a human being making
a yawning noise!
“We found that dogs yawn when they listen to the yawns of people they
know,” said Karine Silva, from the University of Porto in Portugal,
who led the study. “The dogs responded to a yawn even if they didn’t see the
action taking place. These
results suggest that dogs have the
capacity to empathize with humans.”
Another study by researchers from the University of London’s Birkbeck
College found that dogs mimic yawning if they saw
a human doing it. Isn’t this interesting? If you have a pet dog, take a closer look at its
behaviors. It may mimic you,
too! |
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