In
social animals, including
humans,
social grooming is an activity in which individuals in a group clean or maintain one another's body or appearance. A related term,
allogrooming, indicates social grooming between members of the same species. Grooming is a major social activity, and a means by which animals who live in proximity may
bond and reinforce social structures, family links, and build
relationships. Social grooming also is used as a form of and a means of
conflict resolution in some species.
Mutual grooming typically describes the act of grooming between two individuals, often as a part of social grooming,
pair bonding, or a
precoital activity.