Touches mean so much

I had recently read an article about human touching (including humans engaged in competitive basketball), "Evidence That Little Touches Do Mean So Much," published February 22 in The New York Times on the web, in which its author Benedict Carey wrote:

The evidence that [touches] can lead to clear, almost immediate changes in how people think and behave is accumulating fast. Students who received a supportive touch on the back or arm from a teacher were nearly twice as likely to volunteer in class as those who did not, studies have found. A sympathetic touch from a doctor leaves people with the impression that the visit lasted twice as long, compared with estimates from people who were untouched. Research by Tiffany Field of the Touch Research Institute in Miami has found that a massage from a loved one can not only ease pain but also soothe depression and strengthen a relationship.
    ...In a paper due out this year in the journal Emotion, Mr. Kraus and his co-authors, Cassy Huang and Dr. Keltner, report that with a few exceptions, good teams tended to be touchier than bad ones. The most touch-bonded teams were the Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers, currently two of the league’s top teams....[I sent a link to Roy Williams, the coach of the North Carolina Tar Heels, whose league standings might benefit by a little more touching among his players. Or not.]

So naturally the following paragraph jumped out at me this morning from Karen Pryor's 2009 book, Reaching the Animal Mind. She had been conducting dolphin research underwater inside a huge tuna-fishing net, toward finding ways to avoid harming dolphins:

I think of one more curious event I witnessed in the net: a message about connection. I am taking data on a senior-male group of four animals, cruising slowly beneath me, when I realize, by her slimmer build, that the central animal in the group is an equally senior and black-masked female. She is "holding hands," overlapping pectoral fins, with the male on her left, and with the male on her right. A third male swims slightly below and behind her; as I watch, she reaches down with her tail and pats that male gently on the forehead. The hussy! Or maybe, since they look to be age-mates, they all grew up together and were cousins. One thing I am quite sure of, though: she is truly fond of them all. [p. 115]

    Most of us Mother Nature's living organisms—be we basketball players, dolphins, pets, or pet owners—touch, and mean so much by touching. I love it when Siegfried comes over and briefly touches my hand with his nose. I think I know what he means by it.