Mysterious explanations of kiss

Kissing is not a common behavior of all human beings but only exists in nearly half of the world's cultures. People have less sense of smell than animals, so kissing is the closest way people can feel scent and evaluate their partners.

Explain the mystery of the kiss

According to Western countries estimates, romantic kisses are available in 90% of cultures around the world. But the new study shows that this figure is only 46% of the 168 cultures studied.

Romantic kiss between a couple of men and women.(Photo: BBC)

Many groups of hunter-gatherers have no kissing expression or desire to kiss. They even considered kissing as disgusting. These tribes have a close relationship with modern people but live our ancestral-style lives. This shows that human ancestors did not kiss each other.

It seems that kissing is only a product of Western society, handed down from one generation to the next, not the common behavior of humans, the lead author of the William Jankowiak study from the University of Nevada, Las. Vegas, USA said.

To explain the nature of kissing, scientists have relied on historical evidence from animal behavioral records and observations.

Kissing as we do today seems to be a fairly new invention compared to human history, Professor Rafael Wlodarski, of Oxford University, he said. He reviewed many notes to find evidence of the development of kissing.

The most ancient evidence comes from the Vedas in Sanskrit of Hinduism from 3500 years ago. In Vedas, the word 'kiss ' is not used instead of the word 'sniff ' and ' touch ' with the mouth. In addition, in the drawings of ancient Egyptians, people are close by pressing their lips together.

Kissing in animals

Close relatives of humans, chimpanzees and Bonobo gibbons acted to kiss. Prans de Waal, a primate from Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, has seen many cases of chimpanzees embracing, kissing each other after conflict. For chimpanzees, kissing is a form of reconciliation and is more common among males among females. In other words, this is not romantic behavior.

Chimp kiss and hug after conflict.(Photo: CO Mercial / Alamy)

Gibbon Bonobo kisses more often, they often use their tongues when kissing. This is not surprising because Bonobo gibbons have high sexual behavior. When people meet, we shake hands with bonobo mating. For them it is a way of shaking hands. They mate in many different situations. So their kiss is not a romantic kiss.

In addition to the above two species, other species do not kiss. They can rub their nose or face but do not kiss. According to the BBC, animals do not need to kiss because of the sense of smell developed.

For example, wild boars, males produce a strong scent that makes them attractive. An important chemical in odor formation is a hormone called Androstenone. This substance makes children want to mate. The more male the Androstenone is, the stronger the male is. The sense of smell of female pigs is very sensitive so they do not need to come close to kiss.

This is true for other mammals. The golden mouse emits a scent that stimulates the male. They rely on the smell to find other partners with their genes, reducing the risk of inbreeding.

Not only in male mammals and widow black spiders can rely on female hormones to determine whether the female spider is hungry or not. Male spiders only mate with spiders when they are not hungry to avoid being eaten.

Black widow spider.(Photo: Unlimited Visuals / NPL)

In contrast, people's sense of smell is not sensitive, so it is necessary to feel the smell at a closer distance. Scent is not the only factor to assess fitness, but studies show that it plays an important role in choosing a partner.

According to a 1995 study, women like golden mice, who liked the smell of other genetically modified men, who were not close to the bloodline, would have healthier children.

In 2013, Wlodarski did a hobby evaluation experiment in detail. He asked hundreds of people what was most important when kissing. How to smell the characteristic smell most clearly. The importance of scent increases when women at the time are most easily conceived.

The experiment showed that men also created a hormone that wild boar found attractive. This hormone exists in the sweat of the flock, when women come into contact with it, their excitement levels increase slightly.

Hormones play an important role in finding partners in animals, Wlodarski said. Although humans are more evolved, we inherit the entire biological part from mammals.

In this view, kissing is a cultural way to get close to the opponent, assessing their hormones. Since then, in some cultures, getting close to smelling the odor has become a lip contact. It is difficult to say when this change occurred in history, but both acts have the same purpose.