Social grooming: what it is, characteristics, effects and functions

Hygiene is widespread in the animal kingdom. Many species go to great lengths to keep their coats, scales, feathers, and fur clean, sometimes doing it as ritualistically as cats do.

However, no matter how much experience and practice you have cleaning yourself, sometimes it is not enough to cleanse your entire body. Reaching all parts of the body is difficult, almost impossible depending on the animal's anatomy and it will require help.

Social grooming is the set of behaviors in which several individuals clean each other, and it has a lot of advantages beyond hygiene. Let's delve into what this peculiar social behavior is about.

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What is social grooming?

Surely on more than one occasion you have noticed that cats spend a lot of time cleaning themselves with licks. It is a behavior that does not go unnoticed because of how explicit it can be and that, in addition, they do it very often, dedicating about 15% of the day to their grooming habit, somewhat excessive seen from our human perspective. They do it to get rid of loose hair, sand and other foreign objects that may have gotten stuck in the fur that they take care of with great care.

But our feline companions aren't the only animals obsessed with hygiene. In the animal kingdom we can find all kinds of species that regularly clean their fur, feathers, scales and skin to shed insects, leaves, straw, twigs, mud, or food and skin debris dead. This self-cleaning and individual grooming behavior is necessary to keep the skin in good condition, but sometimes it is not enough and a little outside help is required.

In social or gregarious animals, social grooming is an activity in which an individual cleans, deworms, or otherwise cares for the body or appearance of another individual in their group. Thanks to the help of another member of the herd, the recipient animal can sanitize areas where he it would never arrive on its own, in addition to spending an intimate moment of mutual cooperation that strengthens the bonds social.

Social grooming does not only manifest itself in the form of deworming, although this is one of the most common. Actions such as scratching, stroking, or massaging are also considered grooming. These behaviors are socially very interesting, since it has been seen that the friendships and other relationships established between two individuals They groom each other frequently are long-lasting, becoming as deep and stable as the relationship with our best friend would be.

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Social grooming in primates

Social grooming is one of the most studied social activities in primates. In the primatological world, this phenomenon is usually referred to with its Anglo-Saxon terminology of "social grooming", and it is known that in species "cousins" to ours such as chimpanzees This grooming serves to strengthen relationships, reinforce the social structure and strengthen family and partner ties. It is also used as a means of reconciliation and strategy to resolve conflicts and, for this reason, primatologists call social grooming "the cement that unites the world of primates."

It has been seen that this type of behavior also serves as a currency, being used as a resource with which to exchange food and sex. It is also done “free”, simply to kill time and get rid of boredom, although it is also used as a measure of relaxation, reducing stress and tension so much that on more than one occasion chimpanzees have been seen falling asleep while being dewormed By others.

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Why does this behavior influence social ties?

We can see that social grooming, both in primates and other animal species, is a behavior that allows establishing and creating lasting relationships between individuals. Now what makes social grooming a social bonding strategy? What are the neurological mechanisms or psychophysiological explanations behind this phenomenon?

1. C fibers

As we have discussed, social grooming can be carried out in multiple ways, including caresses, scratches, and massages. It has been discovered that, When one individual performs this behavior on another, the C fibers of the groomed animal are activated, fibers that are related to pleasant sensations and in which the limbic system and the orbitofrontal cortex.

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2. Endorphins

At times, the grooming behavior chosen can be a bit crude, rough and coarse, as is a massage. At first, the massage can become a bit painful, but gradually it becomes a pleasant sensation. Why is this happening? The explanation is neurophysiological, being implicated endorphins, hormones and neurotransmitters that are released in the brain and induce feelings of pleasure and relaxation, in addition to acting as pain relievers.

The importance of endorphins in social grooming has been scientifically proven. Several investigations have shown that animals given endorphin blockers carry out behaviors excessively groomed, as if they were never satisfied despite having been scratched for a long time or massaged. Instead, animals injected with endorphins act as if they are already satisfied, and they are disinterested in giving or receiving “grooming”.

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3. Oxytocin

Finally, it is worth mentioning a study carried out by the Max Planck Institute in Germany through which it was seen that oxytocin also appears to be involved in the formation of social bonds related to grooming mutual. This study, conducted by Crockford and colleagues, found that oxytocin levels were higher in chimpanzees who had just performed social grooming in individuals with whom they had greater confidence or who had previously groomed, compared to chimpanzees that had groomed a new individual, in the latter case having lower levels of this hormone.

In this same investigation it was also found that oxytocin levels were equally high after grooming both individuals with the that you had family kinship as well as with those without, as long as there was a significant link and a history of social grooming previous. The oxytocin is known to act neurologically in the reward and social memory systems, with which the study of the institute Max Planck shows that oxytocin plays a key role in maintaining social relationships beyond ligambres genetic

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And what does this mean for humans?

Human beings do not stop being social animals, and the proof of this is that we maintain relationships for long periods of time. If we stop to think for a brief moment, the reality is that we are constantly involved in social grooming, carrying out behaviors that would be nothing more than more complex modalities of behaviors such as scratching, massaging and stroke.

Behaviors that can be considered social grooming in one way or another include giving a warm handshake, hugging with our friends, and snuggling with people we care about. Although we may not realize it, these forms of social grooming are fundamental to our ability to connect with others. and introducing new ones such as massaging our partner or caressing our children can help us to improve the well-being of our social environment, avoid arguments, create a climate of calm and, ultimately, strengthen links.