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Story summary
- University of Oxford researchers say kissing originated between 21 and 17 million years ago in the common ancestor of humans and great apes.
- They define kissing as non-aggressive mouth-to-mouth contact without food transfer.
- They observed kissing-like behavior in primates, including chimpanzees and bonobos.
- The study suggests Neanderthals may have kissed, linking kissing to food-sharing behaviors and to oral microbe exchange with modern humans.
