Study: Chimps show hand preference

[madinmaryland]

For some reason, this needs to be discussed. Please feel free to add to this!!

:evilgrin:



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WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- Wild chimpanzees can be left or right-handed just as humans are, researchers reported on Monday in a study that sheds light on the evolution of "handedness".

A study of 17 wild chimpanzees in Gombe National Park in Tanzania shows that most preferred to use their left hands when fishing for termites, although they used their right hands for other tasks such as cracking nuts.

"Handedness runs in families of wild chimpanzees, with offspring hand use resembling the hand preferences of their mother," Elizabeth Lonsdorf and William Hopkins of the Yerkes National Primate Research Center in Atlanta wrote in their report, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

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http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/science/08/16/chimps.handedness.reut/index.html