New Study May Explain Why Yawning Is Contagious
Amelia Ward
| Last updated
5:45 PM, April 04 2021 GMT+1
Although it's well known that yawning is contagious, even among mammals, not much has been discovered as to why - until now.
Researchers recently spent five months following two prides of lions living at the Makalali Game Reserve in South Africa and their findings give some idea as to why the weird phenomenon occurs.
One of the study's senior authors Elisabetta Palagi, an ethologist at the University of Pisa in Pisa, Italy, noticed that lions 'catch' each other's yawns.
Credit: PA
10
Palagi said: "The data showed a clear picture: After yawning together, two lions would engage in highly synchronous behaviour."