Yawning Big Cats: Photographer’s Funny Trick
There is one trick that works on almost every creature with a pulse: a big, dramatic yawn. Yawn in front of a friend, a coworker, or even your dog, and chances are they will yawn right back, no matter how hard they fight it. Wildlife photographer Goran Anastasovski wondered whether the rule held up for animals with much bigger teeth. Standing in front of the big cat enclosures at Skopje Zoo, he started yawning at lions, tigers, leopards, and black panthers — and to his delight, many of them yawned straight back at him. The result is a gallery of photographs that are equal parts majestic and ridiculous: apex predators caught mid-yawn, fangs out and eyes squeezed shut, looking less like kings of the savanna and more like toddlers fighting off a nap.
The Experiment That Started as a Joke
Anastasovski has spent years photographing the animals at Skopje Zoo in North Macedonia, and along the way he stumbled onto the strangest portrait technique in wildlife photography. Instead of hiding in camouflage or waiting hours for the perfect candid, he simply stood by the glass and yawned — big, slow, deliberate yawns — while keeping his camera ready. The technique turned out to be remarkably effective, especially on the big cats. One by one, lions opened their jaws impossibly wide, tigers flashed their fangs, leopards scrunched their faces, and a black panther delivered a yawn so dramatic it looks photoshopped. It is not — but you will forgive yourself for double-checking.
Why Yawning Is the World’s Most Contagious Habit
Scientists have long puzzled over why yawns spread from person to person. The leading theory ties it to empathy and social bonding: we mirror the yawns of people we feel close to, and dogs — humanity’s oldest companions — famously yawn along with their owners. Whether the same mechanism explains a leopard yawning back at a photographer is an open question, but the photos suggest the instinct runs deeper than anyone expected. Maybe yawning is simply the one language every mammal speaks: a universal announcement that somewhere, somehow, it is nap time.
Real Moments, Not AI Tricks
In an era when anyone can conjure a photorealistic lion with a text prompt, it is worth saying plainly: these are genuine photographs of real animals reacting in real time. No generation, no compositing, no digital wizardry — just a patient photographer, a well-timed yawn, and a fast shutter finger. That authenticity is half the charm. You are not looking at a clever render; you are watching a tiger have an involuntary reflex because a human yawned at it. Somehow that is funnier than anything AI could manage.
A Warning Before You Try It Yourself
Feeling inspired? Start with your house cat — or better yet, your dog, who will almost certainly yawn along out of pure loyalty. What you should absolutely not do is march up to the lion enclosure at your local zoo and start yawning at the residents. A yawning lion is a relaxed lion, but it is still a lion, and zoos have glass for a reason. Admire the trick from a safe distance, yawn along with the photos instead (go on — you are yawning already), and leave the big-cat comedy to the professionals.
The next time someone tells you wildlife photography is all about expensive lenses and endless patience, remember the man who got his best shots by faking sleepiness at a panther. A yawn is a small, silly, involuntary thing — and it turns out even the mightiest predators cannot resist one.
