Non-human animals exhibit population-level lateralized hand or paw preferences
While many non-human animals exhibit strong individual-level hand or paw preferences, extensive meta-analyses and comparative studies show that they lack the consistent population-level directional biases seen in humans.
The claim states that non-human animals exhibit population-level lateralized hand or paw preferences. Multiple recent meta-analyses and large-scale comparative studies on primates, rodents, cats, and dogs consistently find that while these animals show strong lateralization at the individual level, they do not exhibit population-level directional biases (such as the widespread right-handedness seen in humans). Therefore, the claim is refuted by the current body of comparative literature.
Cristina Soto, José M M Gázquez, Miquel Llorente. Hand preferences in coordinated bimanual tasks in non-human primates: A systematic review and meta-analysis.. 2022. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2022.104822
A meta-analysis on non-human primates performing bimanual tasks found individual-level lateralization but concluded that, in contrast with humans, no asymmetry was found at the population level.
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Kai R Caspar, Fabian Pallasdies, Larissa Mader, Heitor Sartorelli, Sabine Begall. The evolution and biological correlates of hand preferences in anthropoid primates.. 2022. https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.77875
A comprehensive study across 38 anthropoid primate species confirmed that taxa displaying population-level handedness are rare and that human-like population-level lateralization is unique.
Martina Manns, Yasmin El Basbasse, Nadja Freund, Sebastian Ocklenburg. Paw preferences in mice and rats: Meta-analysis.. 2021. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2021.05.011
A meta-analysis on mice and rats found significant hemispheric asymmetries at the individual level, but explicitly noted that population-level asymmetries were not observed.
Sebastian Ocklenburg, Sevim Isparta, Jutta Peterburs, Marietta Papadatou-Pastou. Paw preferences in cats and dogs: Meta-analysis.. 2019. https://doi.org/10.1080/1357650X.2019.1578228
A meta-analysis on cats and dogs demonstrated that while individuals show paw preferences, neither species exhibits a directional preference on the population level.
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