Kitten copies mother’s yawn
Nothing much to say here except that it looks like this cute kitten is copying her mother’s yawn and if so why? Rather than following her mother’s behaviour it may be that she has been encouraged to yawn when watching her mother. Yawns are contagious as humans know.
Kitten copies mother’s yawn? Screenshot.
I prefer the first assessment. I think the kitten is learning from her mother by observation – a well known behaviour – which normally centres around how to hunt and kill prey in the wild. It appears to have extended to everything!
Contagious.
? : hunkyandhailey pic.twitter.com/ye3XQWZxDL
— Bulu Bulu Kehidupan (@ulat_bulu_bulu) December 8, 2019
There is a third possibility; pure coincidence, but if you watch carefully the mother yawns first and at that moment the kitten is licking her lips. I think the mother also licked her lips but the video clip starts just after that. You can see a fleeting moment of it at the beginning. If this is correct it confirms that the kitten is learning by observing her mother. In other words, the mother licked her lips and yawned, followed by the exact same behaviour of her offspring.
My conclusion, therefore, in trying to explain this snapshot of feline behaviour is that the kitten is following her mother’s behaviour as part of the process of growing up.
SOME POSTS ON THE MOTHER-KITTEN RELATIONSHIP…
Why does my cat lick me?
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Infographic on “Why does a cat like being stroked?”
Reason why cats massage you
Do you feel that you are a parent to your cat?
Female, domestic stray cat has a kitten and knows she needs a human caregiver and asks
Kitten cries for mother and she runs in from 200 meters
