Infant cradling in a captive mother gorilla
Abstract 10.1002/zoo.20197.abs The purpose of the study presented here was to investigate the handedness and cradling preferences of a mother gorilla (Gorilla gorilla) from the Metro Toronto Zoo. The study also examined preferences for handedness for each member of the captive group. Observational data were collected using scan sampling at 60-sec intervals. Handedness was determined […]
Comparative assessment of handedness for a coordinated bimanual task in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), gorillas (Gorilla gorilla) and orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus)
Hand preferences for a coordinated bimanual task were assessed in a sample of 31 captive gorillas (Gorilla gorilla) and 19 captive orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus) and were compared with chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) hand preferences in subjects that were matched on the basis of age, sex, and rearing history. The task required that the apes remove food […]
The Ontogenesis of Lateralized Behavior in the Domestic Cat, Felis silvestris catus
For the first time, the development of paw preferences in the domestic cat, Felis silvestris catus, is explored. Twelve cats were tested at ages 12 weeks, 6 months, and 1 year on a challenge requiring them to use one of their paws to retrieve food. To control for repeated testing of the same cats at […]
Lateralised Swimming Behaviour in the California Sea Lion
Lateralised motor behaviour in the pinnipeds has been subject to little investigation. This study examined the swimming behaviour of seven zoo-housed California sea lions to determine whether they exhibited a directional bias in their motor behaviour. Data were collected on the direction of the animals’ swimming patterns from the point of entering a pool of […]
Hand Preference for Tool-Use in Capuchin Monkeys (Cebus apella) Is Associated With Asymmetry of the Primary Motor Cortex
Skilled motor actions are associated with handedness and neuroanatomical specializations in humans. Recent reports have documented similar neuroanatomical asymmetries and their relationship to hand preference in some nonhuman primate species, including chimpanzees and capuchin monkeys. We investigated whether capuchins displayed significant hand preferences for a tool-use task and whether such preferences were associated with motor-processing […]
Structured bimanual actions and hand transfers reveal population-level right-handedness in captive gorillas
There is a common prevailing perception that humans possess a species-unique population-level right-hand bias that has evolutionary links with language. New theories suggest that an early evolutionary division of cognitive function gave rise to a left-hemisphere bias for behaviours underpinned by structured sequences of actions. However, studies of great ape handedness have generated inconsistent results […]