New research has shed more light on social interactions of chimpanzees which show they feel empathy for one another.
When we see somebody yawning we often yawn ourselves. This contagious yawning also happens in other animals such as chimpanzees.
Contagious yawning is not just a sign of sleepiness or boredom. It may actually be a sign of a social connection between individuals, in both chimpanzees and humans.
Scientists have shown that chimpanzees yawn more after watching familiar chimpanzees yawn than after watching strangers yawn.
Researchers Matthew Campbell and Frans de Waal believe that when yawning spreads between chimpanzees, it reflects an underlying empathy between them. "The idea is that yawns are contagious for the same reason that smiles, frowns and other facial expressions are contagious." they write. "Our results support the idea that contagious yawning can be used as a measure of empathy, because the biases we observed were similar to empathy biases previously seen in humans."
They studied 23 adult chimpanzees in two separate groups. The chimps viewed short video clips of other chimps, in both groups, either yawning or doing something else. They yawned half as much again when watching members of their group yawn compared to watching others yawn.
Humans tend to show more sensitivity for members of the same social group compared to people seen as different, including involuntary responses, such as empathy for pain. It seems that chimpanzees’ emotions may work in a similar way.
The authors say that contagious yawning could be a window into social and emotional connections between individuals, and suggest that insight into barriers to chimpanzee empathy may help break down those barriers for humans.
It is little wonder that other animals have similar emotions to us human beings, and express them in similar ways. Scientists have shown that many other animals show empathy including dogs and chickens. By studying empathy in other animals we can learn more about them, their behaviour and their minds. However we can also learn more about ourselves and how we can start behaving more empathetically towards each other and, crucially, towards all the other sentient creatures with which we share our planet.