Animal studies have shown it is also important in mate bonding and social attachment.
The first is sometimes called the "cuddle chemical" or "moral molecule" according to Medical News Today for its effect on social behaviour, whilst vasopressin, which can work with oxytocin, is seen as having an effect on sexual motivation and mate bonding.
Birds that continue to display their plumage to each other after forming a mating bond show a greater investment in their offspring.
Oxytocin is known to play a key role in social bonding: in monogamous prairie voles, for example, it helps mates bond, and in female rats it jumpstarts mothering behavior.
Young male wolves like OR7, which will turn 3 in mid-April, must leave the home range of their parents to find a female companion and reproduce because only the dominant pair in each wolf pack form a mating bond.
Humans, on the other hand, tend to form long-term mating bonds and thus may opt for younger mates who will produce more offspring over their lifetimes, the team reports in the 21 November issue of Current Biology.
Discriminative touch is also central to social interactions such as mating, maternal bonding and successful child rearing.
In fact, they were childhood mates who bonded over records and rode around together on Sumner's scooter.
Sofia Black-D'Elia, 19, who plays a lesbian cheerleader named Tea, said she and her cast mates quickly bonded while filming the series in Toronto last year.
You have to say mating, not bonding, or you're a monster, right?
