When their mates die, male hamsters stop eating and sleeping, and often succumb to death themselves. They are not alone. In another study at New York's Mount Sinai School of Medicine, men who had lost wives to breast cancer experienced a sharp drop in the activity of their immune system one to two months after the loss. On the other hand, research in Europe suggested that kissing on a regular basis provides additional oxygen and stimulates the output of antibodies. Closeness to others can heal.
Separation can kill.
The cutting of the ties that bind can be fatal even in the wild. Jane Goodall, the researcher who has studied chimpanzees in the Gombe game preserve of Africa since 1960, saw the principle at work in a young animal named Flint. When Flint was born, his mother adored him. And he, in turn, doted on her. She hugged him, played with him, and tickled him until his tiny, wrinkled face broke out in the broad equivalent of a chimpanzee smile.