Skip to main content

Fido's not just yawning -- he's empathising


Wed Aug 6, 1:33 AM ET

LONDON (Reuters) - Dogs find human yawns contagious, suggesting they have a rudimentary capacity for empathy, scientists said on Wednesday.

Although yawning is widespread in many animals, contagious yawning -- a yawn triggered by seeing others yawning -- has previously only been shown to occur in humans and chimpanzees.

It turns out, however, that man's best friend is highly sensitive to catching human yawns, with 72 percent of 29 dogs tested yawning after observing a person doing so.

Writing in the journal Biology Letters, Atsushi Senju and colleagues at London's Birkbeck College said this behaviour showed dogs were skilled at reading human social cues and "may relate to their capacity for empathy".

(Reporting by Ben Hirschler)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Olympic Diet of Michael Phelps!

By Kathleen M. Zelman, MPH, RD, LD WebMD Health News Questions and answers about the high-calorie diet that fuels the Olympic swimmer's championship performance. Aug. 13, 2008 -- His body may resemble the trim, athletic figure of Michelangelo's statue of David, but the diet of Michael Phelps sure doesn't sound like the stuff of champions. The U.S. Olympic swimmer told ESPN that he eats roughly 8,000-10,000 calories a day, including "lots of pizza and pasta." In addition to stuffing down carbs, he's said that he routinely eats foods like fried egg sandwiches. So exactly how do all those calories help fuel the most decorated Olympic athlete in history? Here are some questions and answers about the Michael Phelps diet. How can Michael Phelps eat 10,000 calories a day and still be so lean? There is no doubt he packs away a ton of food, but it is unlikely that he actually eats that many calories a day, an expert believes. University of Pittsburgh Director of Sports...
Post a Comment
Read more

How to Stay Fit and Healthy

You did it! You met your fitness goal! Now that you have achieved some of your health-related goals, you'll need to focus on  staying  in shape and maintaining a healthy diet. You may have changed a lot of things about what you eat, your lifestyle, and/or your exercise routine. Sometimes keeping up with all the great changes you've made to be more fit or healthy can be daunting. Many people have difficulty maintaining these changes long-term. It can make you feel overwhelmed or get tired or bored with the lifestyle you've developed. But there are a lot of ways that you can stay motivated and keep up with your healthy lifestyle. 1 Touch base your doctor and registered dietitian.  When you are changing your focus from losing weight or meeting a certain goal to maintaining the healthy body you have fought hard to achieve, your dietary needs may change, too. Before becoming fit and healthy you likely met with your doctor and/or a dietitian, and now would be a good t...
Post a Comment
Read more

Fabulous Freebies 2008!

Monday, August 25, 2008 provided by: Kiplinger.com It's been said that the best things in life are free -- and we couldn't agree more. So we've beefed up our annual list of our favorite freebies to bring you even more this year. We looked for primo goods and services, no useless junk allowed. And boy, did we find 'em, from financial management and planning helps to entertainment and vacation freebies. Go ahead. Embrace your inner tightwad: Our favorite freebies Free TV & Movies At Hulu.com, you can watch full episodes of more than 300 shows from NBC Universal and Fox stations, including The Simpsons, The Office, 30 Rock, The Colbert Report, Psych and House. You can even catch classics such as The A-Team, Bewitched, Dragnet and The Mary Tyler Moore Show. Hulu also offers more than 165 free full-length movies. There's something for everyone, and it's 100% legal. If your favorite show isn't on Hulu, you can go to individual network Web sites, such as ABC.co...
2 comments
Read more