Who Knew? Yawning Is Contagious For Wolves

Have you ever sat in a meeting and looked at a colleague yawning, then had the uncontrollable urge to yawn yourself. We can’t tell you how many times that has happened to us, fortunately most of the time we manage to control it or yawn without the boss seeing! A new study suggests that just as with humans when a wolf sees one of its compatriots yawn it will yawn as well.

“In wolves, as well as in primates and dogs, yawning is contagious between individuals, especially those that are close associates,” study co-author Teresa Romero, a researcher from The University of Tokyo in Japan, said in a statement.

It is thought that yawning is a social cue that communicates information particularly in a social setting. In the past, studies of chimpanzees have shown the act to indicate empathy. Domestic dogs in scientific settings have also been known to yawn when they see humans do the same. This type of contagious behaviour could be a sign that wolves also have the capacity for empathy which is typically associated with humans, the researchers said.

In the study, Dr. Romero and her colleagues observed the yawning behaviour in a pack of 12 wolves that are resident at Tokyo’s Tama Zoological park over a period of five month under conditions where the animals did not exhibit any stress.  The researchers found that members of the pack that had a strong bond with the instigator of the yawn also yawned more frequently. Female wolves tended to react faster to a yawn than their male counterparts which suggests that females may be more responsive to social stimuli.

Interestingly human children with autism which is associated with social impairment and communications problems do not experience contagious yawns.