Science News Archive

How To Make a Monkey Yawn

Have you ever noticed how yawning is contagious. Just talking about it is making me want to yawn! Animals other than humans can also yawn, but scientists have shown for the first time that monkey yawns are contagious, just like human ones. Scientists at the University of Stirling in Scotland showed stumptail macaque monkeys videos of other monkeys yawning. They found that this set the macaques off yawning and scratching, much like your average bloke in the morning, while videos of non-yawning monkeys had no effect. Although we still don't know why yawns are contagious, we now know that other animals can catch them too.

5th Mar 2006