Handedness in Eastern Grey Treefrogs: Gender and Population Analysis
Mentor 1
Dr. Gerlinde Hoebel
Location
Union Wisconsin Room
Start Date
29-4-2016 1:30 PM
End Date
29-4-2016 3:30 PM
Description
Handedness, or preferential use of a particular limb, appears to be common in the animal kingdom, but information from lower vertebrates is still scarce. Here we examined whether grey treefrogs show handedness, and compared whether the strength required for a given task influences the degree of handedness. To do this we compared limb use during “Snout wiping”, i.e. removing an object stuck to an animal face, and “Righting”, i.e. resumption of natural upright position after having been overturned. We predict that a task requiring more physical exertion (Righting) would show a higher degree of handedness than a task requiring little physical exertion (Wiping). In line with this prediction, we found that while most individuals were ambidextrous in the “Wiping” task, there were some left-, or right- handed individuals in the “Righting” task. Further, some species show sex differences in handedness. For example, in humans and rats there is a tendency for males to use their left hand more frequently. We did not detect such a sex difference in preferential limb use in treefrogs.
Handedness in Eastern Grey Treefrogs: Gender and Population Analysis
Union Wisconsin Room
Handedness, or preferential use of a particular limb, appears to be common in the animal kingdom, but information from lower vertebrates is still scarce. Here we examined whether grey treefrogs show handedness, and compared whether the strength required for a given task influences the degree of handedness. To do this we compared limb use during “Snout wiping”, i.e. removing an object stuck to an animal face, and “Righting”, i.e. resumption of natural upright position after having been overturned. We predict that a task requiring more physical exertion (Righting) would show a higher degree of handedness than a task requiring little physical exertion (Wiping). In line with this prediction, we found that while most individuals were ambidextrous in the “Wiping” task, there were some left-, or right- handed individuals in the “Righting” task. Further, some species show sex differences in handedness. For example, in humans and rats there is a tendency for males to use their left hand more frequently. We did not detect such a sex difference in preferential limb use in treefrogs.
