Kissing has existed for at least 16 million years, say scientists

The act has been called many things: Centrifugal motion.

- Ali Watkins

Perpetual bliss. The thrill of the moment. Unstoppable. In technical terms, it is “non-agonistic interaction involving directed, intra-specific, oral-oral contact with some movement of the lips/mouthparts and no food transfer”.

Or, as Faith Hill might say: “This kiss”. And, it turns out, it is also really old. British scientists say they have traced the age of the kiss to anywhere from 16 million to 21 million years ago, and have found that it was far more common among other species than previously understood.

Ants? They smooch. Fish? Kissers. Neanderthals? Yep, they puckered up, too — sometimes even with us.