Touching during aggressive encounters may provide information about the body size and strength of opponents. The grooming of another individual, called allopreening or allogrooming, has both hygienic and signal functions in many birds and mammals. Courtship signals may include a tactile component for ...
and in some species a muscle ripple moving along the male’s body will provide a lateral caress. There are many descriptions in the literature ofcourtshipdances done by snakes, in which the bodies are entwined and as much as one-third lifted off the ground, the coils ebbing and flowing wit...