Rensselaer Republican, Volume 27, Number 44, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 July 1896 — LEFT-HANDED PARROTS. [ARTICLE]

LEFT-HANDED PARROTS.

Curious Observation of One Who Has Much to Do with Animals. Superintendent Sol Stephan, of the Cincinnati Zoo, has made all sorts of curious discoveries in the habits and characteristics of animals, the latest of which, says the Enquirer, is that wild creatures are mostly left-handed. Mr. Stephan has been endeavoring to verify this observation on two parrots lately brought from Mexico. He found that in grasping a finger offered as a perch, the parrots almost always put the left foot forward. Usually the finger thus offered is that of the right hand. But when the left finger is offered to the parrots, thev put forward the right foot. There is, however, apparently a small residuum of preference for the left foot. This seems to be due to the fact that men are usually right-handed and offer the right hand to the parrot. The left foot is the one naturally put forward by the parrot in this case, and through repetition of this action a species of left-footedness is induced. Mr. Stephan’s general conclusion is that there is no evidence that the parrot Is naturally left-footed. The appearance of that left-footed-ness is due entirely to the fact that those who offer the finger or food to parrots dp so ( ?as.a rule, with the right hand. liepetition of this process makes the parrot more or less left-handed in time.