Marsupials Lend a Hand to ScienceMarsupials (mammals that carry their young in apouch) are a curiosity among biologists because they lacka corpus callosum, the collection of nerve fibersconnecting the two hemispheres of the brain. In mostother mammals, the left hemisphere of the brain controlsthe right side of the body, the right hemisphere controlsthe left, and the corpus callosum allows communicationbetween the hemispheres. Scientists (23) are longbelieving that this structure enables complex tasks bysequestering skilled movement to a single hemispherewithout sacrificing coordination between both sides ofthe body; this sequestration would explain handedness,the tendency to consistently prefer (24) one hand over theother, in humans. However, a recent finding ofhandedness in marsupials suggests that a (25) trait otherthan the presence of a corpus callosum (26) links ashandedness: bipedalism.Researchers at Saint Petersburg State University andthe University of Tasmania observed marsupials walkingon either two legs (bipeds) or four (quadrupeds) andperforming tasks such as bringing food to their mouths.The scientists employed a mean handedness index;(27) negative scores indicated a left-forelimb preferenceand positive scores indicated a right-forelimb preference.While eating, the eastern gray kangaroo, red-neckedwallaby, red (28) kangaroo and, brush-tailed bettong, allbipedal marsupials, preferred using their left forelimb, asrevealed by (29) positive mean handedness index valuesless than 0 .2 for all four species. These results suggesthandedness among these animals.(30) Having four feet, quadrupedal marsupials in thestudy did not show a strong preference for the use of oneforelimb. For instance, gray short-tailed opossums andsugar gliders were assigned mean handedness values veryclose to zero—they used their right and left forelimbsnearly equally. In effect, the study provided no evidenceof handedness among quadrupedal marsupials.(31) Kangaroos, though, still do not exhibithandedness to the extent that humans do. As theresearchers noted, the quadrupeds typically live in treesand employ all four limbs in climbing. The bipeds, on theother hand, are far less arboreal, leaving their forelimbsrelatively free for tasks in (32) whom handedness mayconfer an evolutionary advantage. Why the majority ofmarsupials studied preferred their left forelimbs while themajority of humans prefer their right remains a mystery,however, (33) as does the mechanism by which, in theabsence of a corpus callosum, the hemispheres of themarsupial brain communicate.
