# Do birds yawn? If not, why not? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 21, 2013, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-birds-yawn-if-not-why-not/647860 "2013-01-21T02:36:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2013, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-birds-yawn-if-not-why-not/647860/1 "2013-01-21T02:36:50Z")
See subject. Imagine OP with folded arms, standing tapping his feet, sort of father-in-the-kitchen at 2:00 AM waiting for his teenage daughter to come home with an excuse. Or not. ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2013, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-birds-yawn-if-not-why-not/647860/2 "2013-01-21T03:42:52Z")
Would you do that, if the last time you did it somebody pushed a worm down your throat? ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2013, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-birds-yawn-if-not-why-not/647860/3 "2013-01-21T03:47:51Z")
Ours do, all the time. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2013, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-birds-yawn-if-not-why-not/647860/4 "2013-01-21T03:56:23Z")
Parakeets/budgies yawn. Or at least mine did, when I was a kid. They’d yawn, and stretch their wings and legs. I’ve never seen other types of birds yawn, but I’ve only had budgies, so it’s probably just that I haven’t observed other bird species long enough. I’ll ask my cats. They are all avid bird watchers, though they don’t keep good records. ---
**Author:** ![Peanuthead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peanuthead/32/360_2.png) [@Peanuthead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peanuthead)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2013, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-birds-yawn-if-not-why-not/647860/5 "2013-01-21T07:08:31Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > Parakeets/budgies yawn. Or at least mine did, when I was a kid. They’d yawn, and stretch their wings and legs. I’ve never seen other types of birds yawn, but I’ve only had budgies, so it’s probably just that I haven’t observed other bird species long enough. > > I’ll ask my cats. They are all avid bird watchers, though they don’t keep good records. My cockatiel yawns and streches too. And sometimes he just flaps his wings while remaining on his perch. ---
**Author:** ![Seanette](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/seanette/32/9139_2.png) [@Seanette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seanette)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2013, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-birds-yawn-if-not-why-not/647860/6 "2013-01-21T07:34:14Z")
I think I’ve seen my ringneck dove yawn, but I’m not 100% sure. She definitely stretches, and does the “flap wings while staying on perch” thing. ---
**Author:** ![Indian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@Indian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indian)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2013, 8:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-birds-yawn-if-not-why-not/647860/7 "2013-01-21T08:32:21Z")
_We have collected video of yawn-like behaviors in cartilaginous and ray-finned fishes, a lungfish, salamanders, caecilians, mammals, turtles, lizards, an alligator and **birds**. All share a similar jaw movement pattern during yawning: a slow opening phase, followed by a slower opening phase or plateau, followed by rapid closure. This similarity leads us to conclude that all of these behaviors may reasonably be called yawning, and the conservation of this behavior over 400 MY of **vertebrate evolution suggests that it may serve some physiological function**._ [Cite.](http://www.brown.edu/Departments/EEB/brainerd_lab/brainerd-sicb-2004.php) Also, _Yawning also has been thought to serve a similar physiological function to stretching. We measured the stretching movements of fins and limbs in association with yawns, and found that they follow the same movement pattern as jaw opening and closing. This lends support to the existing hypothesis that **yawning and stretching serve a similar function** , but the detailed nature of this function remains unclear_ ---
**Author:** ![conurepete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a88e57/32.png) [@conurepete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/conurepete)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2013, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-birds-yawn-if-not-why-not/647860/8 "2013-01-21T12:48:42Z")
My parrots yawn. They yawn when they think no one is looking, but they they also socially yawn. If you yawn, they will yawn a little later. They know it is a social yawn, because they also like to make eye contact, yawn, and then keep watching until you yawn. They yawn most near bedtime. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2013, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-birds-yawn-if-not-why-not/647860/9 "2013-01-21T15:20:17Z")
> [@Indian](#): > > _We have collected video of yawn-like behaviors in cartilaginous and ray-finned fishes, a lungfish, salamanders, caecilians, mammals, turtles, lizards, an alligator and **birds**. All share a similar jaw movement pattern during yawning: a slow opening phase, followed by a slower opening phase or plateau, followed by rapid closure. This similarity leads us to conclude that all of these behaviors may reasonably be called yawning, and the conservation of this behavior over 400 MY of **vertebrate evolution suggests that it may serve some physiological function**._ > > [Cite.](http://www.brown.edu/Departments/EEB/brainerd_lab/brainerd-sicb-2004.php) > > Also, > > _Yawning also has been thought to serve a similar physiological function to stretching. We measured the stretching movements of fins and limbs in association with yawns, and found that they follow the same movement pattern as jaw opening and closing. This lends support to the existing hypothesis that **yawning and stretching serve a similar function** , but the detailed nature of this function remains unclear_ Wow. What a cite. In all cases supplied, by posters and those scientists, it is clear that a rapid and large inspiration takes place? ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2013, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-birds-yawn-if-not-why-not/647860/10 "2013-01-21T16:04:34Z")
Slightly off-topic, but I recall reading that birds do not burp. Their more elaborate digestive apparatus prevents it. Just one reason not to let your pet bird drink from your carbonated beverage. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2013, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-birds-yawn-if-not-why-not/647860/11 "2013-01-21T17:18:35Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > Slightly off-topic, but I recall reading that birds do not burp. Their more elaborate digestive apparatus prevents it. Just one reason not to let your pet bird drink from your carbonated beverage. But perhaps they fart. Serious reply. ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2013, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-birds-yawn-if-not-why-not/647860/12 "2013-01-21T17:23:48Z")
Indian has already covered it, but I thought I’d provide some anecdotes. I have seen pet birds yawn, and also pet gold fish, snakes and tortoises. Snakes are particularly interesting to watch yawn, because they stretch the jaw way, way open, and move it back and forth in a way that shows how the bones do not attach together at the chin ---
**Author:** ![Indian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@Indian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indian)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-birds-yawn-if-not-why-not/647860/13 "2013-01-22T02:02:49Z")
> [@dracoi](#): > > Indian has already covered it, but I thought I’d provide some anecdotes. I have seen pet birds yawn, and also pet gold fish, snakes and tortoises. > > Snakes are particularly interesting to watch yawn, because they stretch the jaw way, way open, and move it back and forth in a way that shows how the bones do not attach together at the chin Cool observation about snakes. Do you own a pet snake?