Left Handed Kangaroos

A study has found that wild Kangaroos tend to use their left hands in performing common tasks like grooming and feeding.

18:09 19 June 2015

Researchers have found that the majority of wild kangaroos tend to favour their left hands during common tasks. The study, according to the researchers, is the first demonstration of population-level “handedness” in a species other than humans, who are mostly right-handed. 

 

The research was conducted by Russian scientists from St Petersbrug State University, who travelled to Australia to do the fieldwork. The study, which was published in the journal Current Biology, was collaborated with Janeane Ingram, a wildlife ecologist and PhD student at the University of Tasmania.

 

Ms Ingram said: "Unfortunately, even my own colleagues think that studying left-handed macropods is not a serious issue, but any study that proves true handedness in another bipedal species contributes to the study of brain symmetry and mammalian evolution.” 

 

She added: "As one of our reviewers pointed out, laterality is also obvious in how parrots hold their food or how your dog shakes hands. But these examples of lateralisation have not been proven at the population level."