Tuesday, August 23, 2016

Creature Handedness, 2

Recently I was in Australia, again enjoying seeing some of the creatures that are indigenous only to that continent. Marsupials, for example. According to some sources, true handedness would not be expected in the average marsupial because these creatures (unlike placental mammals) lack a corpus callosum. In the wild, however, kangaroos favor left-handedness for everyday tasks. Studies showed this was especially true for red kangaroos and eastern gray kangaroos. Bennett’s wallabies, showed left-handed use for activities that required fine manipulation and right-handed use for activities that required physical strength. I was interested to learn that chickens (definitely not marsupials) seem to favor the left eye when it comes to social recognition tasks. Toads reportedly favor the right front foot when it comes to removing stuff stuck to their bodies. And more polar bears appear to be left-pawed than right-pawed. Hmm-m.

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