Chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) handedness: Variability across multiple measures of hand use

This study examined intertask consistency in handedness across multiple mea sures of hand use in a sample of 187 chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). Hand pr eferences for 2 to 6 measures were collected from the sample, and hand pref erence scores were derived on the basis of the individual hand preferences for each measure. Seven of 15 possible intratask correlations were signific ant, with some degree of clustering depending on the motor demands of the t asks. Two overall measures of handedness revealed population-level light-ha ndedness in the chimpanzees, although the degree of bias was reduced for ch impanzees tested on more than 3 measures of hand use. The results are inter preted in the context of several recent studies that proposed theoretical m odels of handedness in nonhuman primates.