Jakarta, domclub Indonesia
—
The kissing habit that is synonymous with modern humans turns out to have much older evolutionary roots.Listen to the facts.
A recent study from the University of Oxford revealed that kissing has been around since 21.5 to 16.9 million ago in the ancestors of great apes and ancient humans such as Neanderthals.
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The first human kiss recorded in history books occurred 4,500 years ago in Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt.However, recent research has revealed that kissing evolved millions of years ago.
Matilda Brindle, lead author of the study and an evolutionary biologist at the University of Oxford’s Department of Biology, said that kissing actually carries a high risk of transmitting disease and has no clear reproductive benefit, but the behavior is found in many animals, so it is thought to be an evolved trait.
“Kissing is one of the things we really want to understand. It is commonly found in animals which suggests that perhaps this is a trait that has evolved,” said Brindle, reporting
domclub
, Thursday (20/11).
Because kissing cannot be detected through fossils, scientists examined the scientific literature regarding modern primate species that have been recorded kissing, such as chimpanzees, bonobos, orangutans and gorillas.Next, they carried out a phylogenetic analysis to explore the possibility of this behavior in extinct species.
Through statistical modeling run 10 million times, the study found that kissing was likely an ancient trait in great apes that appeared between 21 million and 16.9 million years ago.
This study also revealed that Neanderthals probably kissed.Apart from that, this study also reveals the possibility of kissing between Homo sapiens and Neanderthals.
However, Brindle admits that this research model does not yet explain the reasons or mechanisms for the evolution of kissing, which functions to assess potential mates, foreplay, build social bonds, and reduce tension.
According to him, there is still minimal data regarding kissing behavior in animals outside the monkey group, so the evolutionary process cannot be reconstructed completely.Much of the information available also comes from animals living in captivity.
Research also reveals that kissing is not a universal behavior in human culture.A 2015 study showed only 46 percent of cultures documented the practice.
“We did find a strong evolutionary signal in kissing, but that doesn’t mean kissing should be preserved,” explains Brindle.
For some populations, he adds, kissing may not be appropriate.
“Primates are a very flexible and intelligent species, so kissing may be useful in some contexts but not in others. And if it is not useful, kissing is quite risky with a high potential for disease transmission,” he said.
(dmi/dmi)
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