Teaching a tortoise to yawn, now that’s research!
October 6th, 2011 - 6:29 pm ICT by IANSLondon, Oct 6 (IANS) After spending six months teaching a tortoise to yawn, a professor in Britain remarked: “Training the tortoise to yawn was very hard.”
Anna Wilkinson spent a good six months to teach a red-footed tortoise to yawn in a study on reptile behaviour, The Sun reported.
The research didn’t end there.
Another few months were spent encouraging the pupil into doing it in front of other tortoises to see if they too would yawn.
They didn’t.
Wilkinson of the University of Lincoln has won an Ig Nobel prize for her effort.
The annual prize is handed out at America’s Harvard University by the science humour magazine Annals of Improbable Research for studies that “first make people laugh, then think”.
“This award will raise the profile of research into reptile behaviour. It’s important to get over the serious side of what we do. Training the tortoise to yawn was very hard,” Wilkinson was quoted as saying.
- Dogs yawn hearing master do the same - May 10, 2012
- Yawning not contagious for babies: Study - Dec 01, 2010
- Gas-mask bra designers win Ig Nobel prize - Oct 02, 2009
- People more likely to yawn in winters - Sep 20, 2011
- Chimps' contagious yawning a sign of empathy, not just sleepiness - Apr 07, 2011
- Teacher in UK struck off for discussing her sex life with pupils - Dec 04, 2010
- Teacher in topless photo scandal is back! - Oct 09, 2011
- Why yawning is contagious - Sep 16, 2010
- Music training benefits babies' brains - May 10, 2012
- Lincoln urged Britain to help set up colony for freed slaves - Mar 06, 2011
- Changing thoughts 'can help cure severe depression' - May 13, 2010
- Umbilical cord blood not the right indicator to measure allergy risk - Oct 06, 2010
- Lincoln had 'secret talks' with Britain to set up colony for freed slaves - Mar 06, 2011
- A British school where kids learn head massage - Oct 03, 2011
- Study: Violent video games may not desensitize kids - Feb 24, 2011
Tags: annals of improbable research, harvard university, humour magazine, ig nobel prize, lincoln, london, pupil, red footed tortoise, science humour, six months, sun, tortoise, tortoises, university of lincoln, wilkinson