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Kissing is a big part of human acculturation . According toancient cuneiform tablets found in Iraq , humans have been smooching since at least 2500 B.C. Around the world today , many social club partake in kiss in some form or another , whether it ’s for Romance language , familial lovemaking or a friendly salutation .
When a demeanor is so far-flung , it makes sentiency to question whether other species do the same and if the behavior has an evolutionary origin . So do any other animal kiss ?
Kissing is a big part of human culture. But do other animals share the same behavior?
If you need to know the answer , first you need to define a kiss — and that ’s not as simple as it sounds .
From a spit - filled makeout to a platonic mint on the impertinence , the physical formulation of human kissing can go the gamut . The design behind a back talk curl matters , too ; press your lip against another ’s during CPR may physically resemble a kiss , but few people would define it as one . loosely , human kissing require to express some kind of confident societal sentiment , whether it ’s intimate , romantic or platonic .
Sheril Kirshenbaum , author of " The Science of Kissing : What Our Lips Are tell Us " ( Grand Central Publishing , 2011 ) , toldNPRthere are many deterrent example of what we might consider " kisses " in the animal kingdom , from turtles tap heads to moose and ground squirrels brushing nose .
Kissing is a big part of human culture. But do other animals share the same behavior?
Perhaps one of the most obvious examples of beast " kisses " arelicks from our dogtooth companion . dog bring their mouth to their humankind ' faces and bulge out bat to show affectionateness , although this behavior can also suffice many other use , such as neaten or enhance their experience of smells . This conduct is likely reinforced by positive chemical reaction from their owners .
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On that note , it ’s important to put forward that when canvas these sort of doings in animals , scientist attempt not to anthropomorphise , or to view animals ' military action through the lens of human motivations and demeanour . So , while it ’s possible to learn dogs and observe that they tend to lick the face of man they have close relationships with , we ca n’t assume those " kisses " have the same meaning for them as they do for us . For that understanding , these sorts of actions are often called " osculate - similar behaviors " rather than " kiss , " and they do n’t always come with the overconfident connotation that human kisses do .
For example , out on the African savanna , you may see a pair of giraffes interlace their neck opening , sometimes brushing their look and lips across each other . But this kissing - like behaviour is n’t a showing of affection ; it ’s a laterality ritual callednecking , and it ’s used to set which giraffe is of higher societal status .
Do other primates kiss?
order Primates are the only animals who can " kiss " using puckered lips the way human do ; other specie do n’t have the necessary material body . And when it come to the animal realm , Pan paniscus ( Pan paniscus ) might be some of the most plenteous canoodlers . Alongside chimpanzee ( Pan troglodytes ) , pygmy chimpanzee are ourclosest sustenance relatives , and they ’re also highly wanton .
Vanessa Woods , a research scientist of evolutionary anthropology at Duke University , told Live Science that bonobos ' female - led social groups incline to resolve disputes with sex rather than with furiousness , as many other primate do . And while bonobos do n’t needs " snog " during those sexual encounters , they do get passably PG-13 when sharing food and grooming each other . Both of these behaviors often end up in extended kissing - like behaviors with spate of tongue action .
Because bonobos tend to groom and share food with those they ’re close with , kissing can be thought of as a " kinship barometer " for bonobos , Woods said .
The prevalence of kissing - similar behaviors in primate during grooming even contribute one research worker to suggest that it ’s the origin of human petting . In anarticle published in 2024,Adriano Lameira , an associate professor of psychology at the University of Warwick in the U.K. , proposed that human kissing is actually anevolutionaryremnant of grooming behaviour .
In the last stage of the groom process , nonhuman prelate gather their lips and take in the groomee ’s skin to remove any remaining bug or detritus , in a kiss - like motion . Lameira believes that as evolution stripped ancient primates of their thick body hair , grooming became unneeded , but our human ancestors retained the final , osculate - similar step of the grooming process as a way to communicate a warm societal chemical bond .
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" Kissing is not merely a romantic or ethnic phenomenon but an evolutionary relic of primate social bonding , " Lameira told Live Science in an email .
Woods is n’t totally positive that this is the only evolutionary intellect for kissing . She said food sharing is also a big motivator for mouth - to - mouth physical contact in bonobos , and osculate conduct could have just as well stemmed from there in a shared root .
While the evolutionary origins of kissing remain a mystery , one thing is clear : Other animate being might partake in behaviour that resemble snog in form or function , but the full spectrum of human kissing sets us aside from the residual of the animal kingdom .
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