Chimp yawns are contagious too

By at 8:28 am Wednesday, Jul 21

Yawning is contagious among chimps as well as humans. Scientists at the University of Stirling showed video of chimps yawning and grinning to other chimps, several of whom then followed suite. According to a New Scientist article, the experiment supports the notion that chimps, well, grok each other on a pretty deep level. The results of the experiment are strikingly similar to other studies on contagious yawning among humans conducted by evolutionary psychologist Gordon Gallup.
"Our data suggest that contagious yawning is a by-product of the ability to conceive of yourself and to use your experience to make inferences about comparable experiences and mental states in others," Gallup told New Scientist.
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David Pescovitz

Collector of anomalies, esoterica, and curiosities.

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