It may not sound very romantic, but from a biological perspective, kissing has little effect. Rather, Smooth’s ability to facilitate the spread of contagious diseases may do more harm than good. But if you look back at humanity’s evolutionary journey, there was a time when kissing could have meant more sanitary, hairier apes.
Adriano Lameira, a primatologist and evolutionary psychologist at the University of Warwick, recently conducted a comprehensive investigation of existing hypotheses behind the potential origins of kissing, including breastfeeding in infants and pre-chewing food in young apes. carried out. And while Lameira’s conclusion offers a far more practical beginning than today’s signs of love, he theorizes that kissing may be born out of adults cleaning each other up.
“[K]”Issing is not derived from a human expression of affection, but represents a form of primate grooming that has evolved and survived, preserving ancestral form, context and function,” Lameira wrote in the magazine. argued in a published paper. evolutionary anthropology.
Modern primates typically finish grooming by sticking out their lips and carefully sucking up any excess debris, insects, or parasites caught in another ape’s fur. Lameira said this moment marks the end of a “time-consuming and labor-intensive ritual” that builds and strengthens social bonds. However, cleaning tasks can only last as long and intensively as the apes’ fur allows.
[Related: Ancient Mesopotamian texts show when and why humans first kissed.]
While grooming logically required less time and effort as our ancestors evolved to gradually reduce their fur over thousands of years, Lamelia says these rudimentary kisses may have health implications. They argue that even though it was less necessary, it was still a necessity for society. He theorized that these subsequent “shorter sessions would have, predictably, preserved the final ‘kissing’ stage,” and that it ultimately led to “social and kinship interactions in ancestral apes.” They theorize that it has become “the only vestige of the ritualistic actions of the past to mark and strengthen bonds.”
as Phys.org However, it is important to note that kissing is not universal across human cultures. 2015 research published in journals american anthropologist Researchers found that of the 168 cultures studied around the world, only 46 percent maintain romantic and sociable kissing practices, and hunter-gatherer indigenous communities where kissing is less common. He points out that it is even considered vulgar. Not only that, but many non-ape primates engage in a variety of social bonding rituals. Capuchin monkeys, for example, stick their fingers in the nostrils and eyes of the nearest local residents.
But Lameira takes the time to point out such exceptions in his paper. He also noted how the grooming behavior of land apes, which are more susceptible to parasites than their arboreal relatives such as capuchin monkeys, has traditionally been seen, potentially suggesting his He said this further supports the theory. In any case, Lameira hopes in his conclusion that the “last kiss hypothesis” will provide inspiration for further research and the grooming behavior of today’s great apes, especially those with different amounts of fur. expressed.
“For future evolutionary insights into the evolution of human kissing and other behaviors unique to our species, we need to understand the broader socio-ecological, cognitive, and communicative context of our ancestors. It will be important to keep the implications in mind and reflect,” he wrote.
