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Foot-use laterality in the Japanese jungle crow (Corvus macrorhynchos)
Ei-Ichi Izawa1, Taichi Kusayama, Shigeru Watanabe
1Department of Psychology, Keio University, Tokyo 108-8345, Japan; Japan Society for Promotion of Science, Tokyo 108-8345, Japan. izawa@psy.flet.keio.ac.jp
Abstract:
Laterality of foot-use behaviour was examined in jungle crows (Corvus macrorhynchos). Consistency of laterality was also verified in comparison with two different behaviours. One was beak-scratching, and another was food-holding. Significant bias of foot-use laterality was found in 11 of 13 tested subjects for beak-scratching and in 10 of 12 tested subjects for food-holding. Bias of foot-use laterality was not common among footed subjects, suggesting no population-level bias. However, a significant number of footed subjects (10 of 12) who were tested in both behaviours showed consistent laterality irrespective of behavioural differences. These results suggest that jungle crows have strong individual-level laterality in foot-use behaviour.
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