We wonder why so many people, despite the warnings to stay at home and avoid commingling at all costs to avoid becoming infected by the coronavirus, still congregate in crowds. The answer, say anthropologists, may be in our DNA.

According to Voa News, public health officials have warned repeatedly that people in close proximity can transmit the virus through droplets they release when they breathe, talk, cough and sneeze. For months, concerts and sporting events have been canceled to avoid large gatherings, and yet we’ve seen protesters and other groups in public appearing to flaunt the guidance of health officials. People seem to love to come together no matter what the consequences. Experts say our brains may be hard-wired to seek social interaction thanks to millions of years of evolutionary adaptation.

According to National Geographic, our primate ancestors found safety in cooperation and developed social structures that protected them from predators and increased their chances of survival — safety in numbers, if you will. Experts believe that social interaction has been so ingrained in our brains that we may actually be addicted to it.

“We are intensely social, as all monkeys and apes are,” said Robin Dunbar, an evolutionary anthropologist at the University of Oxford. “We depend on group-level cooperation for solving problems of everyday survival and successful reproduction. That’s the primate adaptation.”

He told National Geographic that within the same evolutionary process, the penchant for altruism also is apparent and may be used to help people cope with social distancing during the pandemic. By tapping into our innate drive to protect each other, perhaps we can convince others to follow safety guidelines.

Dunbar said as evolution progressed, humans developed more sophisticated social behaviors such as dancing and laughing together, eating and drinking socially and attending religious services. That’s why Americans are so eager to return to their favorite haunts and pastimes.

Michael Tomasello, an evolutionary psychologist and professor at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina told National Geographic that perhaps social media can help us engage more safely with others during the coronavirus pandemic. While he admitted that it’s not the same as face-to-face interaction, meeting digitally to share jokes, gossip or even share a meal can light up — and save--our lives.