Study says kangaroos are mostly left-handed
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RESEARCH on wild kangaroos in Australia is challenging the notion that having a strong hand preference is a trait that developed primarily in people and other primates.
Scientists said on Thursday that the Australian marsupials displayed a natural preference for using their left hand for feeding, self-grooming and other activities. So while most people are right-handed, most kangaroos are lefties.
Beyond providing new insight into kangaroo behavior, the research sheds light on a unique aspect of mammalian evolution, they said.
“We found a pronounced degree of ‘handedness,’ comparable to that in our species,” said biologist Yegor Malashichev of Saint Petersburg State University in Russia.
“In bipedal kangaroos, in all actions studied, there was a significant left-hand preference in the vast majority of individuals,” he said.
The researchers said they did not expect to find hand preference in kangaroos or other marsupials because of brain differences from the more common placental mammals.
“Any study that proves true ‘handedness’ in another bipedal species contributes to the study of brain symmetry and mammalian evolution,” said ecologist Janeane Ingram of the University of Tasmania in Australia.
“Even in the scientific community, true ‘handedness’ was assumed to have evolved primarily in humans and primates.”
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