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Does target animacy influence manual laterality of monkeys? First answer from northern pig-tailed macaques (Macaca leonina)

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Abstract

The evolutionary origin of human right-handedness remains unclear. Many factors such as emotion and tool use have been implicated in primate handedness evolution. With regard to emotional lateralization, most related research focuses on facial asymmetry and behavioral laterality under the non-social context, whereas few studies investigate social laterality. This study, for the first time, investigates the effect of target animacy on hand preference in Old World monkeys, compares our findings with previous related studies in great apes and humans, and aids in filling the knowledge gap on primate handedness evolution. Nine captive northern pig-tailed macaques (Macaca leonina) were chosen as focal subjects in this study. There was no group-level handedness for both animate and inanimate targets. No significant interaction was found between lateral hand use and target animacy. Left-hand use was more frequent than right-hand use for animate targets, whereas right-hand use was more frequent than left-hand use for inanimate targets, both of which demonstrate no significant level. On the whole, northern pig-tailed macaques showed a similar tendency as that in great apes and humans. Regarding handedness linked with emotive stimuli, it is likely that Old World monkeys, great apes and humans evolved from a common ancestor.

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Acknowledgments

We appreciate animal keepers of the Tianjin Zoo for their assistance during data collection. This study was funded by Talent Introduction Fund of Tianjin Normal University of China (No. 5RL115) and “More Than One Thousand Talents Introduction within 3 years” Fund of Tianjin City of China (No. 5KQM110002).

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical standard

All applicable international and Chinese guideline for the care and use of animals were followed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Tianjin Key Laboratory of Animal and Plant Resistance, College of Life Sciences, Tianjin Normal University, Binshui West Road 393, Xiqing District, Tianjin, 300387, China

    Dapeng Zhao, Yuan Wang & Hongbao Zhang

  2. Wildlife Institute, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing, China

    Dapeng Zhao

  3. Tianjin Zoo, Tianjin, China

    Kejia Han

  4. College of Life Sciences, Northwest University, Xi’an, China

    Baoguo Li

  5. Institute of Zoology, Shaanxi Academy of Sciences, Xi’an, China

    Baoguo Li

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  1. Dapeng Zhao
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  2. Yuan Wang
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  4. Hongbao Zhang
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  5. Baoguo Li
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Correspondence to Dapeng Zhao.

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Zhao, D., Wang, Y., Han, K. et al. Does target animacy influence manual laterality of monkeys? First answer from northern pig-tailed macaques (Macaca leonina). Anim Cogn 18, 931–936 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-015-0863-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-015-0863-3

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