Discussion

Most previous research on limb preferences in non-humans uses manipulation. My study design instead uses observations of natural behaviors. This can provide many benefits because I am not requiring animals to move in unnatural positions or accidentally making them use a certain limb. However, there are also many challenges. When a lemur grabs a branch, for instance, I don’t know whether it was because it was their preferred side, or if it was because the branch just happened to be closer.

Also if a lemur was grasping a branch with one hand and eating with the other, I don’t know whether the eating hand was their dominant hand or if it was the grasping hand.

An animal also could have had pain or limited mobility on one side of the body, causing them to mostly reach with their non-preferred hand Many lemurs were resting a lot or did not forage much, so the available data from some individuals were scant.

A major limitation was that not all of the focal subjects were in free-ranging enclosures. Only 2 free-ranging mongoose lemurs were available, so I had no choice but to observe 2 that were in indoor enclosures. Thrax and Gisela were in free-ranging enclosures at the beginning of the study but were later moved indoors before I was able to observe them.

Sample size was also a major limitation of this study. I did not have a large enough sample size to observe, for instance, if 10% of Pcoq exhibit left-hand preference for food reaching

Total hours of observation were also a limitation. This study took place over a 10-week internship, so my opportunities to collect data were limited.