Nobody knows when kissing emerged among humans. But the practice of plopping one’s mouth on another human, whether in friendship or love, is not universal; which suggests culture, rather than instinct, may be at play.
On the other hand, it’s not unique to humans. Other primates, such as bonobos and chimpanzees, kiss each other. [According] to primatologist and evolutionary psychologist Adriano Lameira of the University of Warwick in the UK, [this] suggests an origin that no one has ever thought of before… probably because it’s so gross.
This rudimentary snogging, he says, would have been part of a routine grooming session in our ancestors. As the primate doing the grooming chances upon a flake of dead skin or a parasite, they move forward and latch onto their partner’s skin with their lips, lovingly slurping away the problem.
Related on the SLP
While the clean-up became less necessary over time, the parting smack of the lips never [disappeared.]
