One of five wolf pups rescued from the edge of the Funny River wildfire in Alaska on May 27, 2014, is cared for at the veterinary facility of the Alaska Zoo in Anchorage. Photo: AP Photo/Alaska Zoo, John Gomes/MCT
When someone yawns near you, you yawn too. The same is true among chimpanzees and baboons. Even dogs do it. They all seem to "catch" a yawn when someone near them yawns. But why? ######

Empathy is when you feel what someone else is feeling. A new study of wolves suggests that more animals can feel empathy than experts had realized.

Humans are more likely to catch a yawn when they are around people they feel close to. The same goes for the other primates, like chimps. ######

Dogs can also catch a yawn. Yet, dogs don't yawn when other dogs do. Instead, they yawn when people yawn. And dogs are more likely to yawn when they get along very well with their owner.

Dogs Can Read People

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Dogs are very skilled at reading human behaviors, the scientists said. They thought it might be possible that dogs evolved to yawn over all the time humans and dogs have lived with each other.

Were any other animals capable of catching a yawn?

If dogs were born knowing to catch yawns, then wolves should also be. Wolves are the closest relatives of dogs.

###### There was a mother, a father and their 10 offspring. The scientists watched them over five months.

The scientists only looked at certain wolf yawns. The yawns they were interested in were yawns that occurred when wolves were awake and relaxed, and not in distress. ###### They also noted the other wolves nearby, and where these wolves were looking when the yawn happened.]]>