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Left-handers and their animal relatives: A surprising study!
A new study shows that over 70% of animal species have side motor preferences, providing insight into the evolution of handedness.
Left-handers and their animal relatives: A surprising study!
The research team led by Prof. Dr. Sebastian Ocklenburg at the Medical School Hamburg has recently provided remarkable insights into the evolutionary history of motor side preferences in humans and animals. Loud medicalschool-hamburg.de Current cladographic analysis shows that motor preferences are not just a human phenomenon. The researchers work in an interdisciplinary manner with colleagues from the Ruhr University Bochum, the Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf and the Research Center Jülich.
In their studies, Ocklenburg and his team analyzed data from 172 different animal species. The findings are remarkable: over 72% of the species examined showed clear evidence of motor side preferences. This represents a significant advance in understanding the functional organization of the motor system in the brain.
Evolutionary biology perspectives
Many people believe that left-handedness is a human trait. In fact, around 10.6% of humanity is left-handed - a value that is also consistent with observations in the animal world. Animals often show a paw or fin at hand, which is loud geo.de is called hemispheric asymmetry and is subject to both genetic and environmental factors.
Research on this topic has increased in recent years. Interesting results were achieved in an additional study of 119 animal species - including cats, parrots, monkeys as well as fish and reptiles. It turned out that around a third of the species did not show a clear side preference, while over two thirds favored a specific side. Pets, such as cats and dogs, also show clear preferences. Over 75% of cats are either right-pawed or left-pawed, while more than two-thirds of dogs prefer a particular paw.
Insights into the animal world
Particular examples of side preferences in the animal world have also been noticed. Leatherback turtles show a clear preference for their right rear fin when laying eggs, while Gazami crabs prefer to open shells with their right scissors. Squids, on the other hand, often use a special arm to grab food. Pet owners can specifically test their pets’ paw preference through so-called “food reaching” tasks.
These findings are important not only for biology, but also for the understanding of cognitive functions and human evolution. According to a review by George F. Michel et al., as in pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov Explained in more detail, hand preference reflects sensorimotor skills associated with the development of hemispheric lateralization. Such research shows that the development of lateralization and handedness is due to a complex interaction of genetic and environmental factors.
Overall, there are encouraging approaches and new study designs that can contribute to a better understanding of the evolution and development of motor preferences in both humans and animals. This interdisciplinary exchange is central to unraveling the mechanisms behind these preferences and further exploring their effects on behavior and cognition.