Disgusting and unsanitary: This is how people judge nose picking and turn away in disgust when they catch others doing it. However, the behavior isn’t unique to humans: At least 12 primate species stick their fingers up their noses.
In addition to humans, this includes chimpanzees, gorillas, orangutans and the aye-aye Aye-Aye of the lemur family, as mammal specialist Anne-Claire Fabre of the Natural History Museum Bern reports in the latest issue of the journal “Journal of Zoology.”
Fabre filmed an aye-aye (Daubentonia madagascariensis) picking its nose at the Lemur Center in North Carolina, US. The older video shows an aye-aye sticking his extremely long, thin middle finger deep into his nasal passages, pulling out nasal secretions, then licking the finger. Fabre encourages further research into why the animal does this and how nose picking has changed over the course of evolution.
Eating nasal secretions is not as unsanitary as it is believed. Studies have shown that nasal secretions can even keep bacteria away from tooth surfaces.
Source: Krone
I’m Wayne Wickman, a professional journalist and author for Today Times Live. My specialty is covering global news and current events, offering readers a unique perspective on the world’s most pressing issues. I’m passionate about storytelling and helping people stay informed on the goings-on of our planet.
