Animals also like to bathe: there are 5 cleaning habits in the animal kingdom

Humans are obsessed with staying clean. We bathe or shower regularly (at least most of us do). We cut our hair and nails. Some people even pay for other people to prepare them when it comes to pedicures or facial treatments.

Hygiene is not just a modern fashion. It is an instinct that humans evolved long before bathtubs, notches and shampoo. Archaeological evidence suggests Humans began to comb, start and cut their hair at least 3,000 years ago.

While bathing and preparing is an innate part of being human, there is also evidence that animals, even those who are not so closely related to us, maintain hygiene in some way.

The evolutionary advantages of the bathroom and the preparation may seem clear: eliminating the potentially harmful bacteria of the body. But hygiene practices have many purposes that differ animals to animals.

1. Cleaning habit in Tahrs of the Himalayas: reciprocity

The Himalaya Tahrs are anointed with goat horns that are adapted to the high alpine tundra of the Himalayas mountain range. Like many ungulates, the fur are preparing and licking with the teeth and tongues.

Recently, A group of scientists paid close attention to these behaviors Between a female tahrs cohort not related to an outdoor zoo in Rome. They sought to make holes in the cognitive restriction hypothesis, which states that non -human animals do not have the cognitive capacity to understand long -term reciprocity. Therefore, mutually beneficial behavior has to give an immediate benefit to both parties. In other words, if you scratch your back, I will scratch yours right now.

As the scientists suspected, the Himalayas Tahrs did not fit in the mold. They showed a preference for the people of the boyfriends who had previously prepared them, even if they had spent hours or days.

The authors argued that their observations provided evidence contrary to the cognitive restriction hypothesis. However, Tahrs’ behavior could also lead to a third explanation. It could be that animals developed affinity with each other through preparation. Perhaps it is not calculated reciprocity, only friendship.

Read more: 20 of the most adorable animals to help anyone

2. African León Arro: Social Linking

Tahrs are not the only animals that enjoy preparing each other. Social toilet, or cotton in many mammals, birds and even insects has been observed.

For many animals, social preparation is reserved for nearby relatives. But some, like Tahrs, seem to receive some other behavior benefit.

African lions Lick the other’s fur and rub the heads with members of your pride. Although they tend to favor nearby relatives, they also preferably prepare lions not related to age.

The evolutionary purpose of this behavior remains somewhat opaque. But the observations suggest more and more than the preparation provides social benefits to the lions. It is a way of affirming friendships and showing affection. After all, relationships are important when you live and fighters in a pride.

3. Grooming for Beavers: Fur and Waterproofing Feathers

The hygiene practices of some animals have a more practical purpose. Many aquatic animals usually prepare and grease their fur or feathers to stay dry.

Beavers prepares several times a day. In fact, highly specialized tools have evolved for the task. In each rear leg, they have a divided claw, a dentated bone growth that they use to meticulously combs their fur. They also have specialized glands near their anus that secrete an oily substance, which extended on their fur during the preparation process. The oil keeps them warm and dry during the long days in the water.

Many aquatic birds Have a similar gland, commonly known as the preen gland. The ducks, for example, collect the oily secretion of the preen gland and extend it on their feathers to waterproof them.

4. Bush Elephant Bath: Stay fresh in heat

It is heated in the African savanna, especially when you are a 6 -ton mammal that cannot fit completely under a shadow tree.

The elephants of African bushes have found another use to bathe, staying fresh. In hot days, they are covered in the mud to stay more wet for longer. A group of scientists They discovered that the elephants were more likely to get wet and muddy in the days when the temperature increased above 91 degrees Fahrenheit to the sun.

Researchers I have also found that Asian elephants are covered on land and dust when it is hot. Interestingly, their observations led them to believe that the purpose of dust baths was not temperature regulation. Instead, behavior could help prevent solar burns or avoid parasites.

Read more: 6 different tactics that animals use to prepare for winter

5. Bees preparation: pest detachment

Perhaps one of the hygiene purposes with better understanding is to free the body of unwanted guests. Animals of all evolutionary sizes, sizes and lineages participate in behaviors that avoid parasites, viruses and harmful bacteria. Think of a dog biting the fleas or a horse hitting with your tail.

For basocial insects, such as bees, parasites preparation can be a collective activity instead of an individual. European bees Regularly combine through the hairy area under the wings of your nest classmates using your jaws. It is an impossible place to reach and, consequently, is where they like to hide parasitic mites. When preparing each other, the bees ensure the health of the hive as a whole.

Article Sources

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Gabe Allen is a Colorado -based independent journalist focused on science and the environment. He is a 2023 report with the Pulitzer Center and a current master’s student at the Environmental Journalism Center of the University of Colorado. His Byline has appeared in Discover magazine, Astronomy magazine, Planet Forward, The Colorado Sun, Wyofile and Jackson Hole News & Guide.