Right- or Left-Pawed? Survey Results Will Surprise You.
Whether you’re doing the hokey pokey, or just trying to get some tuna out of a jar, you’ll use your left paw if you’re a male cat, or your right if you’re a female, according to research just completed at Queen’s University in Belfast.
Psychologists Sarah Millsopp and Deborah Wells tested 42 housecats — split evenly between males and females — to determine whether, like humans, cats are right-handed or left-handed. They published their results recently in the Animal Behavior journal.
The cats were subjected to three tests. In the first test, researchers dropped tuna into narrow-mouth jar. For the second, they dangled mouse toys above the cats’ heads. In the final test, they dragged a mouse toy across the floor in front of the cats. Each cat was put through each test 100 times.
The results were somewhat astonishing. When playing with the mice, both male and female cats demonstrated ambidextrous use of both paws. But in the tuna-in-the-jar test, all but one of the male cats used their left paws to scoop out the tuna, while all but one female cat used their right paws to complete the same task.
The findings show that cats use their paws much like humans use their hands. For example, most humans are ambidextrous when it comes to simple tasks like opening a door, but use their favored hand for tasks requiring precision, like writing.
The cats in the study mimicked human hand usage in another way: although the vast majority of humans are right-handed, men are statistically much more likely than women to be left-handed. One theory suggests that left-handed people were exposed to higher levels of testosterone than right-handed people while in the womb.
[PHOTO: media.onsugar.com]
I always hold my mewomy’s hand with my left paw. : )
Oh no – looks like we’re going to get tested to see if we are right or left pawed! Geesh!
That’s amazing but I wish mum would stop watching our every move! MOL
I really thought this wouldn’t be true so I watched my clan – I have 6 cats, 3 male, 3 female. All my girls are right handed, and all my boys are lefties like me. So funny!
I always use my right paw to move the litter in my litter box after I go…
Wow, they got to do each test 100 times. That means they got to fish 100 pieces of tuna out of the jar, yummy. Where do I sign up to purrticipate in this test?
I just tried to get one of my mom’s chicken mcnuggets with my left paw! MOL
our only female cat is a lefty. the youngest tomcat is a lefty, and i dunno what the other tomcat is, he’s not around us enough. he’s antisocial, but he can be really sweet.
My mom thinks I use my left paw when it comes to my food and moving my bowl but she’s going to test me too. MOL! I’m a female and my furless sister is left handed also. Mom will let you know what she finds out.
Oh great, now mom is going to watch us to see! MOL!!
Now mom is throwing toys to both me and my brother. Mom thinks we are right pawed and we are male cats.
Us kitties and the dog’s are right pawed. MOL!
I always use my right paw to flip kibble out of my brother Dachshund’s bowl. By the way, When Mommy takes Benny Dachshund outside, he always lifts his left hind leg to tinkle. Maybe that’s because our Mommy is left handed! MOL!!!