Ai the chimpanzee is watching the video. Empathy and self-awareness
Ai, a 27-year-old chimpanzee from western Japan, watched another chimpanzee as he yawned, rolled his head, exposed his pink jaw, and responded with a yawn. "This is another example that chimpanzees are very similar to us," believes Tetsuro Matsuzawa, a professor at the Higher Mammal Research Institute at Kyoto University, who published a study on the subject this month.
In the study, published in the online journal "Biology Letters The Royal Society", the reactions of six chimpanzees, of which three were cubs, were examined to a video film in which chimpanzees were seen yawning. Two of the adult chimpanzees responded with a yawn of their own. The three puppies did not respond at all to the videos. It was also found that a picture of shim-panzims who just open their mouths, without yawning, did not provoke any reaction.
According to Matsuzawa, the behavior pattern of chimpanzees is similar to that of humans. When people watch videos showing yawns, half of them will respond with a yawn, at least from the age of five. Smaller children do not yawn in response.
Contagious yawning is a result of empathy and self-awareness, Matsuzawa concludes. Until recently, researchers believed that only adult humans responded to yawning, children and animals lacking the necessary intellectual development. However, the current study provides proof that chimpanzees have an advanced level of self-awareness and the ability to empathize, similar to adult humans. The next step in the research is to test whether the chimpanzees will also respond to human yawns. Matsuzawa would not be surprised. "We are part of the monkey family," he said.
https://www.hayadan.org.il/BuildaGate4/general2/data_card.php?Cat=~~~916005011~~~51&SiteName=hayadan
