Kissing began 20 million years ago with our ape ancestors

Kissing is still seen in most large apes. Representational pic/iStock

Researchers have carried out the first attempt to reconstruct the evolutionary history of kissing using a cross-species approach based on the primate family tree. The results indicate kissing is an ancient trait in large apes, evolving in the ancestor to that group 21.5-16.9 million years ago. It was retained over the course of evolution and is still present in most large apes. The team also found that our extinct human relatives, Neanderthals, were likely to have engaged in kissing too. This finding, together with previous studies showing that humans and Neanderthals shared oral microbes (via saliva transfer) and genetic material (via interbreeding), strongly suggests that humans and Neanderthals kissed one another.

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