US EditionFirst kiss dates back 21 million years, say scientists
Oxford and Florida Tech researchers estimate an 84% probability that kissing evolved in the common ancestor of large apes between 21.5 and 16.9 million years ago.
- On Nov. 19, a study led by University of Oxford and Florida Institute of Technology researchers published in Evolution and Human Behavior showed kissing stretches back roughly 21 million years.
- To answer why kissing exists, researchers led by Dr Matilda Brindle defined it as non‑aggressive mouth‑to‑mouth contact without food transfer and reviewed primate literature spanning species from Africa, Europe and Asia.
- Mapping traits across the primate family tree, the team used Bayesian statistical methods and a phylogenetic model, running ten million simulations for robust evolutionary estimates.
- The findings imply Neanderthals and modern humans probably kissed, supported by shared oral microbes and interbreeding evidence, while lip-touching appears inherited from large apes but absent in macaques and baboons.
- Only about 46 percent of cultures engage in kissing, highlighting its variability; the study provides a foundation for future research into origins like grooming and pre-chewing/food sharing.
164 Articles
164 Articles
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Luke O’Neill: Revealed – the secret benefits of kissing that might surprise you
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Scientists reveal kissing began millions of years before humans
Scientists have traced kissing back to early primates, suggesting it began long before humans evolved. Their analysis points to great apes and even Neanderthals sharing forms of kissing millions of years ago. The behavior appears to have persisted through evolution as a social or bonding tool. Yet its patchy presence across human cultures hints at a mix of biology and cultural invention.
Mouth contact goes back 21 million years and is common to humans, primates and many species of animals. But if it is not closely linked to primary needs such as survival or reproduction, why do you kiss?
Biologists at Oxford University have studied the evolutionary history of kissing, using a very unromantic definition of a kiss.
Ancient Apes May Have Invented Kissing
Planting a big wet smooch on someone you love didn’t start with us. Well, technically it did, just not the version of us around today. According to new research, kissing may have begun with our great ape ancestors around 16.9 to 21.5 million years ago. Researchers from the University of Oxford took the first wide-angle evolutionary look at the biological origins of kissing. Lead author Matilda Brindle and her team had to begin by defining what c…
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