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Laterality Preferences Completing A Tool-Use Task In Asian Small-Clawed Otters (Aonyx Cinereus), Stephanie E. James

Honors Theses

Laterality is defined as the occurrence of each cerebral hemisphere having asymmetric control over the different sides of the body, leading to preferences to use one side of the body over the other for various behaviors. Many types of laterality exist, but handedness is the form that is most predominantly assessed. Handedness in animals is of special interest to laterality researchers, as humans were once thought to be the only species that exhibited lateralized hand preferences. The aim of the current study was to determine if Asian small-clawed otters exhibit significant paw preferences in behaviors associated with completing a tool-use …