16-Jan-2012 - Budgies find yawns irresistible too

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BUDGIES agree: a yawn is a difficult thing to resist. The highly social birds are the latest animals to join the contagious yawning club. Many animals yawn, but only humans and a few other primates are known to trigger cascades of yawns around a group. monster beats studio headphone red Andrew Gallup at Binghamton University in New York watched 21 budgies over 15 days and counted their yawns - a wide open beak and slightly closed eyes, followed by a brief stretch of the neck. Each bird yawned one to three times an hour, but was more likely to do so if their neighbour had just yawned (Behavioural Processes, DOI: 10.1016/j.beproc.2011.12.012). It's the first good evidence for contagious yawning in a non-primate, says Gallup. Unpublished work shows their yawns are more contagious after a sudden loud noise, White diamond studio limited edition headphone suggesting yawning might help coordinate group alertness in the face of a threat. If you would like to reuse any content from New Scientist, either in print or online, please contact the syndication department first for permission. New Scientist does not own beats by dr dre studio apple green headphone rights to photos, but there are a variety of licensing options available for use of articles and graphics we own the copyright to.

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