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Genetic Influence on the Expression of Hand Preferences in Chimpanzees (Pan Troglodytes): Evidence in Support of the Right-Shift Theory and Developmental Instability
Genetic mechanisms have been proposed to explain the pervasive representation of
right-handedness in humans, whereas random, nongenetic factors have been posited to
explain the lack of population-level right-handedness in nonhuman primates. We report
evidence that hand preferences in chimpanzees are heritable, even among related
individuals raised in different environments. Furthermore, we report that the degree of
heritability is modified by factors associated with developmental instability, notably,
offspring parity. The data are interpreted to reconcile both genetic models for handedness
and hypotheses suggesting that developmental instability influences variation in
handedness.
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