posted
Every polar bear playing in the bigs is a southpaw. Wait, shouldn't it be "northpaw" then? I almost had a gag, son -- Joke, that is.
Posts: 4922 | From: Kyoto, Japan | Registered: Sep 2005
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posted
Polar Bears have one handedness and that handedness is GRRRR.
How would you tell what an animal's handedness is? Not many animals write, and those that do don't usually take the time to try out writing with both hands/paws/feet/talons/probosci/flagelli.
-------------------- Give big space to the festive dog that makes sport in roadway. Avoid entanglement of dog with wheel spokes. Posts: 4267 | From: Seattle | Registered: Feb 2003
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posted
I don't think there is a pertinent study to hand, but I would suggest this is just a folk tale. Bears i'm sure favour left or right likewe humans do and it wouldn't surprise me if there was a stat that suggested a bias one way or the other, a dominant hand after all helps 'us' to learn quicker, but i'm not prepared to believe that 'all' bears are southpaws.
Polar bears also hunt with 'both' feet, be they smashing through ice or dragging whales from blow-holes, but I wonder if there's information on brown bears? Much more studied and apt to delicate tasks such as shelling clams...
-------------------- This is where I come up with something right? Something really clever... Posts: 6552 | From: UK | Registered: Oct 2002
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quote:I was unable to find any scientific studies of polar-bear handedness. Instead, I based my answer on anthropologist Richard Nelson's account. In the 1960s, Nelson spent about a year living with the Inupiaq in the tiny village of Wainwright.
"Inupiaq elders say polar-bears are left-handed, so you have a slightly better chance to avoid their right paw, which is slower and less accurate," says Nelson.
posted
It appears to be a folk tale, according to WonderQuest (last question on the page).
quote:I was unable to find any scientific studies of polar-bear handedness. Instead, I base my answer on anthropologist Richard Nelson’s account. In the 1960s, Nelson spent about a year living with the Inupiaq in the tiny village of Wainwright.
"Inupiaq elders say polar-bears are left-handed, so you have a slightly better chance to avoid their right paw, which is slower and less accurate," says Nelson.
James Powell
Posts: 588 | From: Michigan | Registered: Jan 2003
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posted
Not all, the one in the Coca Cola Christmas commercial is not.
Even so, I doubt all would be, there would probably be a similar distribution as in humans. Almost all animals have left and right variants, even some sea shells are twisted the "wrong" way.
-------------------- /Troberg Posts: 4360 | From: Borlänge, Sweden | Registered: Nov 2005
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