Contagious Yawning

Of course you already knew yawning was contagious!  It's almost impossible not to yawn when someone else does it!  I looked up a few facts about yawning that I thought were interesting.

1. 55% of people who witness someone yawn will yawn themselves.
2. Yawning when others yawn, could be a sign of empathy and a form of social bonding. Kids don't develop this deeply rooted behavior until around age four.
3. Fetuses begin yawning in the womb as early as 11 weeks after conception.
4. For reasons scientists still can't explain, spontaneous yawning continues throughout life. (Studies have shot down theories about yawning to bring in more oxygen.) In fact, all vertebrates yawn, including birds, hippos, snakes and lizards.  With all the bird watching I do, I have never seen a bird yawn.  Now how adorable would that be?  ha.
5. Contagious yawning is a different story. Only humans, chimpanzees and possibly dogs have been shown to do it.  Although, I yawned before taking the photo above, and Whisker immediately yawned after me.  No kidding! ha.
6. Like contagious laughter and contagious crying, scientists have theorized that contagious yawning is a shared experience that promotes social bonding
7.  Kids with autism are half as likely to catch yawns. In the most severe cases, they never do.  A recent study postulates that contagious yawning could be part of the "neural network involved in empathy." which could explain why kids with autism don't catch the "need" to yawn when they see other's do it. My boys with autism rarely yawned when they were younger.  They do yawn occasionally now, but it isn't a contagious thing.

But I have to say, I have yawned about a dozen times just typing up this post!  Just thinking about it makes me do it.  How about you?  Did I make you yawn?

♥

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