Text taken from mental_floss:
Researchers at the University of Porto in Portugal have made a breakthrough in yawn studies. While there are a few other animals that will reciprocate a yawn with a yawn (baboons, chimps and macaques in particular), dogs are the only ones who find it contagious cross-species: they’ll yawn when they see humans doing it . In fact, a pooch can even be prompted to yawn by the sound of a human yawning. Scientists believe that dogs use yawning as a way of showing empathy. The funniest part to me, though, was that the seemingly sleep-deprived dogs might not actually be tired-it’s quite possible they’re just mimicking the human behavior as a way of sucking up. The article also points out that dogs are pretty good actors. According to the piece: previous studies have shown “that when dogs look guilty, they may not actually be feeling guilty.” Good thing to remember the next time you’re reviewing a pup for parole.
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