People kiss – so do certain creatures like monkeys or polar bears. Ever thought about just how ancient this habit might be? Experts looked into where smooching came from, finding surprising clues about its roots. A few even dug up details on when it first showed up.
A fresh report says face-kissing might go back roughly 21 million years. The results show early relatives of people and big monkeys did this too.
The research also shows Neanderthals – our nearest ancient cousins – shared kisses too, while hints suggest early people might’ve exchanged them with Neanderthals now and then.
Why Study Kissing?
Researchers found smooching odd – it’s not needed to stay alive or have babies. Still, people everywhere do it, also some creatures in the wild share similar behaviors.
Looking at how animals kiss, scientists made a kind of ancestry chart to follow where the act began. They defined it strictly – no emotions involved – just touching mouths without fighting, sharing food, or biting. The contact had slight motion of lips or mouth, nothing more. It wasn’t about love but physical interaction minus aggression or eating.
- Key Findings
– Kissing started roughly 21.5 million years back.
– The research came out in a magazine called Evolution plus Human Behavior.
– A scientist from Oxford, Dr. Matilda Brindle, said people, chimps, besides bonobos, give kisses. Because of this behavior, she figured their shared great-great-grandparent probably smooched as well.
– The way scientists describe kissing fits wolves too, as well as prairie dogs, polar bears that rely a lot on their tongues, or albatrosses sometimes.
The study looked at primates – particularly big apes – to figure out where human kissing came from.
Neanderthals vanished roughly 40,000 years back – yet they still shared kisses. While gone now, their habits included smooching others. Back then, affection wasn’t rare among them either.
–The Mystery of Why Kissing Began
While the study shows when kissing began, it leaves out the reason behind it. Earlier work on Neanderthal genes found a common mouth germ in people and Neanderthals – hinting at saliva sharing long after they split into separate groups.
-Several theories exist:
– Kissing could’ve come from cleaning habits in early primates – maybe linked to how they cared for each other.
– Maybe it worked like checking how healthy someone was while seeing if you two fit well together.
Dr. Brindle thinks this study might lead to fresh ways of tackling the “why” puzzle. In her words:
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