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Wild kissing

Harald Franzen
February 14, 2018

Kissing seems to be a uniquely human activity but some behavior in the animal kingdom comes pretty close. Here are a few examples.

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White tigers
Image: picture-alliance/Anka Agency/G. Lacz

Anthropologists are still divided over the origins of kissing. A commonly held belief is that it grew out of kiss feeding. That's the practice of one individual chewing food and feeding it to another who is incapable of breaking it down themselves. Animals usually do this mouth to mouth. 

At the same time, kissing isn't a universal human activity either. A survey of 168 cultures found that kissing is only common in 46 percent of them.

But there are certainly many animals that display behavior that could be mistaken for kissing. Check out our gallery to find out more.