Monkey Hugs

My blog title, Hug the Monkey, is a metaphor about how we need to give and get cuddling and hugs to grow and stay healthy and happy.

But the Touch Ambassador points to a story from last month's Nature magazine about how Mexican spider monkeys use hugging as a way to defuse intra-clan tension. (I think she is part of the Cuddle Party crew in the UK.)

From the article,

The small gangs bumps into one another frequently. If the other monkeys are seen as rivals, there is a danger that fighting will erupt. Hugging seems to be a way to ease the tension — aggressive encounters such as chases are more likely to happen among monkeys that do not embrace first.

This hugging presumably releases oxytocin, which calms the amygdala. The amygdala is a control center for the fight-or-flight reflexes; it sometimes causes animals (including the human variety) to lash out before the prefrontal cortex can make a judgment about whether aggression is called for.

Oxytocin also is involved in social memory -- recognizing who is a friend or member of the social group. So this hugging likely reinforces the "friend" relationship between huggers.

By the way, I went to a Cuddle Party in the San Francisco Bay Area, and thoroughly enjoyed it. I think they're dying out in the U.S., but here's my report: How I Cuddled

Comments

[Left Brain]

They must be dying out, I've never heard of a "cuddle party".

[Field Notes]

Nice blog. Am a big fan of oxytocin too.

[Dan]

I've never heard of a cuddle party -- nor am I surprised that they'd exist in California. :)
But I just have to say, Susan... The spidermonkey hugging thing is pretty awesome. I can just imagine little wild monkeys bumping into each other and hugging. Cute. And fascinating.

[Susan Kuchinskas]

well, Cuddle Parties began in New York -- so forget any california stereotypes you were thinking of!

I should have included the link: http://www.cuddleparty.com

[Poetry]

Zettabyte

A wild rambling rose of a woman,
with a smoky smile and jaunty hips.
Tan as a summer's day.

Brisk, bracing, brusque.
Like a March wind.

Cool air pours off a sheer blue glacier.

Ice lipped steel bergs
Way down under...

Pieces of the sky
scattered over the glassy waters of a lake.

Mirror world lake reflected.
A reflex action.
A world dopplegangered.
One twin clear and sure.
The other rippled by winds of fate and chance.