All Topics  
Personal grooming

 
Personal Grooming

 
   Email Print
   Bookmark   Link
 

 

Personal grooming
 
 
  Topics Personal grooming Topic Home

preening]] Personal grooming (also called titivating) is the art of cleaning, grooming, and maintaining parts of the body. In animals, it is a species-typical behavior
Species-typical behavior

Species-typical behavior or "species-specific behavior" is a concept in ethology. It refers to behavior that is commonly engaged in by members of a species. Fixed action patterns are a type of species-typical behavior....
 that is controlled by neural circuits
Biological neural network

In neuroscience, a neural network describes a population of physically interconnected neurons or a group of disparate neurons whose inputs or signalling targets define a recognizable circuit....
 in the brain
Brain

The brain is the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate, and most invertebrate, animals. Some primitive animals such as cnidarian and echinoderm have a decentralized nervous system without a brain, while sponges lack any nervous system at all....
.

ming in humans
Human

A human being, also human or man, is a member of a species of bipedalism primates in the family Hominidae . Mitochondrial DNA evidence indicates that modern humans originated in east Africa about 200,000 years ago....
 typically includes bathroom
Bathroom

A bathroom is a room that may have different functions depending on the cultural context. In the most literal sense, the word bathroom means "a room with a bath"....
 activities such as primping: washing and cleansing the hair
Hair

Hair is a protein filament that epidermal growth from hair follicle deep within the dermis. The fine, soft hair found on many nonhuman mammals is typically called fur; wool is the characteristically curly hair found on sheep and goats....
, comb
Comb

A comb is a device made of solid material, generally flat, always toothed, and is used in hair care for straightening and cleaning hair or other fibers....
ing it to extract tangles and snarls, and styling.






Discussion
Ask a question about 'Personal grooming'
Start a new discussion about 'Personal grooming'
Answer questions from other users
Full Discussion Forum



Encyclopedia


Cat Cleaning Itself
preening]] Personal grooming (also called titivating) is the art of cleaning, grooming, and maintaining parts of the body. In animals, it is a species-typical behavior
Species-typical behavior

Species-typical behavior or "species-specific behavior" is a concept in ethology. It refers to behavior that is commonly engaged in by members of a species. Fixed action patterns are a type of species-typical behavior....
 that is controlled by neural circuits
Biological neural network

In neuroscience, a neural network describes a population of physically interconnected neurons or a group of disparate neurons whose inputs or signalling targets define a recognizable circuit....
 in the brain
Brain

The brain is the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate, and most invertebrate, animals. Some primitive animals such as cnidarian and echinoderm have a decentralized nervous system without a brain, while sponges lack any nervous system at all....
.

In humans

Grooming in humans
Human

A human being, also human or man, is a member of a species of bipedalism primates in the family Hominidae . Mitochondrial DNA evidence indicates that modern humans originated in east Africa about 200,000 years ago....
 typically includes bathroom
Bathroom

A bathroom is a room that may have different functions depending on the cultural context. In the most literal sense, the word bathroom means "a room with a bath"....
 activities such as primping: washing and cleansing the hair
Hair

Hair is a protein filament that epidermal growth from hair follicle deep within the dermis. The fine, soft hair found on many nonhuman mammals is typically called fur; wool is the characteristically curly hair found on sheep and goats....
, comb
Comb

A comb is a device made of solid material, generally flat, always toothed, and is used in hair care for straightening and cleaning hair or other fibers....
ing it to extract tangles and snarls, and styling. It can also include cosmetic care of the body, such as shaving
Shaving

Shaving is the removal of hair, by using razor or any other kind of bladed implement, to slice it down to the level of the skin. Shaving is most commonly practiced by men to remove their facial hair and by women to remove their leg, and underarm hair....
.

Primping is usually the act of getting ready before going out for the night. Such activities include showering, the application of makeup and the picking out of the night's outfit and jewelry.

In other animals

Blue Ducks Preening
Individual animal
Animal

Animals are a major group of multicellular, eukaryotic organisms of the Kingdom Animalia or Metazoa. Their body plan eventually becomes fixed as they develop, although some undergo a process of metamorphosis later on in their life....
s regularly clean themselves and put their fur, feathers or other skin
Skin

The skin is the outer covering of the body, also known as the epidermis. It is the largest organ of the integumentary system made up of multiple layers of epithelial biological tissue, and guards the underlying muscles, bones, ligaments and organ s....
 coverings in good order. This activity is known as personal grooming, a form of hygiene
Hygiene

Hygiene refers to practices associated with ensuring good health and cleanliness. Such practices vary widely and what is considered acceptable in one culture may be unacceptable in another....
. For example, combing through the hair or feathers, ensuring they lie smoothly against the skin, and extracting foreign objects
Foreign body

In physiology, a foreign body is any object originating outside the body. In machinery, it can mean any unwanted intruding object....
 such as insect
Insect

Insects are the biggest class of arthropods and the only ones with wings. They are the most diverse group of animals on the planet. They are most diverse at the equator and their diversity declines toward the poles....
s, and leaves, dirt
Soil

Soil is the naturally occurring, unconsolidated or loose covering on the Earth's surface. Soil is composed of particles of broken rock that have been altered by chemical and environmental processes including weathering and erosion....
 and twigs, are all forms of grooming.

Among animals, bird
Bird

Birds are wing, Bipedalismal, endothermic , vertebrate animals that lay egg . There are around 10,000 living species, making them the most numerous tetrapod vertebrates....
s spend considerable time preening their feather
Feather

Feathers are one of the epidermal growths that form the distinctive outer covering, or plumage, on birds. They are considered the most complex integumentary structures found in vertebrates....
s. This is done to remove ectoparasites, keep them in good aerodynamic condition, and waterproof them. They use the "preen oil" secreted by the uropygial gland
Uropygial gland

The uropygial gland, or, more informally, the preen gland is a gland found in the large majority of birds that secretes an oil that birds use for preening....
, the dust of powder down
Powder down

Powder down is a special type of down feathers. They occur in a few groups of apparently unrelated birds and thus are probably evolutionary homoplasies....
, or other means such as dust-bathing or anting
Anting (bird activity)

File:Black Drongo I2 IMG 5683.jpgIn the behavior called anting, birds rub insects on their feathers, usually ants, which secrete liquids containing chemicals such as formic acid, that can act as an insecticide, miticide, fungicide, or bactericide....
. When an oil spill
Oil spill

An oil spill is the release of a liquid petroleum hydrocarbon into the environment due to human activity, and is a form of pollution. The term often refers to Marine oil spills, where oil is released into the ocean or coastal waters....
 affects penguin
Penguin

Penguins are a group of Aquatic animal, flightless bird birds living almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere. Highly adapted for life in the water, penguins have countershading dark and white plumage, and their wings have become Flipper ....
s, animal conservation that rescue them sometimes dress them in knitted sweater
Penguin sweater

Penguin sweaters, also known as penguin jumpers are sweaters which are knitted for penguins that are caught in oil slicks. When an oil spill affects penguins they are dressed in knitted sweaters to stop them preening their feathers and to keep them warm, since the spilled oil destroys their natural oils....
s to stop them from preening and thereby ingesting the mineral oil
Mineral oil

Mineral oil or liquid petroleumis a by-product in the distillation of petroleum to produce gasoline and other petroleum based products from crude oil....
 which is poisonous.

Felidae
Felidae

Felidae is the family of the cats; a member of this family is called a felid. Felids are the most strictly Carnivore of the sixteen mammal families in the order Carnivora....
 (cats) are famous 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 hairball
Hairball

A hairball is a small collection of hair or fur formed in the stomach of animals that is occasionally vomited up when it becomes too big. Hairballs are primarily a tight elongated cylinder of packed fur, but may include bits of vomit or recently swallowed food....
s from the fur they ingest.

Grooming as a social activity

Many social animal
Social animal

A social animal is a loosely defined term for an organism that is highly Interaction with other members of its species to the point of having a recognizable and distinct society....
s adapt preening and grooming behaviors for other social purposes such as bonding, social structure
Social structure

Social structure is a term frequently used in sociology and social theory ? yet rarely defined or clearly conceptualised . In a general sense, the term can refer to:...
 enforcement, or dispute resolution
Dispute resolution

Dispute resolution is the process of resolving disputes between party ....
.

See also

  • Preen gland
  • Wound licking
    Wound licking

    After an injury, humans and many other animals will instinctively licking a wound to clean it. Dogs, cats, rodents and primates all lick wounds. Oral mucosa heals faster than skin, suggesting that saliva may have properties that aid Wound healing....