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Personal grooming (also called
titivating and
preening) is the art of cleaning, grooming, and maintaining parts of the body. In animals, it is a
species-typical behavior that is controlled by
neural circuits in the
brain.
In humans
Grooming in
humans typically includes
bathroom activities such as primping: washing and cleaning the
hair,
combing it to extract tangles, and
styling. It can also include cosmetic care of the body, such as
shaving.
In animals
thumb|200px|A domesticated tortoiseshell cat grooming herself.
Individual
animals regularly clean themselves and put their fur, feathers or other
skin coverings in good order. This activity is known as personal grooming, a form of
hygiene. Extracting
foreign objects such as
insects, leaves,
dirt or twigs, are all forms of grooming. Among animals,
birds spend considerable time preening their
feathers. This is done to remove
ectoparasites, keep them in good aerodynamic condition, and waterproof them. To do that, they use the
preen oil secreted by the
uropygial gland, the dust of
down feathers, or other means such as dust-bathing or
anting. During
oil spills,
animal conservationists that rescue
penguins sometimes dress them in
knitted sweaters to stop them from preening and thereby ingesting the
mineral oil which is poisonous.
Felidae cats are well known for their extensive grooming. One reason advanced for such grooming is to remove all traces of blood and other matter so as to not alert prey with the scent. Cats groom so much that they often produce
hairballs from the fur they ingest.
Grooming as a social activity
Many
social animals adapt preening and grooming behaviors for other social purposes such as
bonding,
social structure enforcement.
Gallery
See also
Category:CleaningCategory:HygieneCategory:EthologyCategory:Articles lacking sources (Erik9bot)de:Komfortverhaltenes:Acicaladofr:Toilettagepl:Zachowanie komfortoweru:Груминг 
