Hand-Use Lateralization in Ring-Tailed Lemurs (Lemur catta)

Abstract

As a part of a zoo enrichment program, this study examined hand preference for two captive adult (one male, one female) ring-tailed lemurs in order to determine whether bimanual hand preference was consistent with unimanual hand preference. Three different conditions (tube fixed high on cage, tube fixed low on cage and free rolling tube on cage bottom) determined unimanual hand preference. The bimanual condition used a tube hung vertically with a side hole for food extraction. This condition required the lemurs to hold the tube with one hand to prevent swinging while extracting with the other hand. Binomial z tests for each condition indicated significant (p < .001) left-hand preference for both lemurs across all conditions. Both lemurs exhibited 100% left-hand use for bimanual tasks, which supports research with other primates that has shown a greater degree of lateralization for bimanual tasks.