It’s a dirty little habit that many participate in, and few would admit to. As many as 91 percent of the population picks their noses from time to time. Many people do it to remove the dry nasal mucus, namely boogers, that can build up and irritate the nose. If you have allergies that clog your nasal passages, there’s even more of a temptation to clear them up. And in some cases, nose-picking can become a compulsive habit, like biting your nails.
Researchers have found that nose-picking is much more common in the animal kingdom than we previously thought. An October 2022 study published in the journal Zoology found that nose picking, known scientifically as rhinotillexis, is documented in at least 12 species of primates.
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Aye-ayes, a lemur with big eyes and strikingly long fingers, descends its pickers into the nasal cavity all the way down to the pharynx. ...
