Jessica Wynn

You know, consider skateboarders and surfers who ride with what's called goofy footed.

Even animals show handedness.

Cats, dogs, horses, chimps.

No male cats are more likely to be left pawed.

Yeah, many animals are handed or pawed.

So handedness in animals is a widespread phenomenon, not an exception, and can provide insights into evolution and brain development.

So studies on cats and dogs show a significant portion of each species has a dominant paw.

Though the ratio of left-to-right pawed individuals can vary, but male cats are more likely to be left pawed when completing tasks like getting food from the bowl or things like that.

Other mammals like horses, squirrels, and chimpanzees also show limb preferences for tasks like cantering, stripping acorns, or using tools.

I mean, it's all tied to brain lateralization where different functions are concentrated in one of the two hemispheres of the brain.

So we see it in every species.

For example, young chicks tend to peck grain on one side.

Tortoises consistently turn to one side to right themselves when flipped over.

In the animal kingdom, there's an evolutionary advantage to favoring the left, even if you don't have hands.

Like snails with left coiling shells have an advantage against predators who have adapted to crack more common right coiling shells.

Isn't that crazy?

Remarkable.

Actually, they seem to be.

The blue whales perform specific movements like barrel rolls to feed with a preferred side, showing a consistent handedness or finned, whatever you want to call it, in their behavior.

The octopus, which, by the way, is my least favorite animal on the planet, has eight equally nimble arms, but they show a preference for using one tentacle to inspect or handle objects.