Is it an urban myth that all polar bears are left handed?

mementoflash

It seems not to be a myth but true: http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/nov98/911501390.Zo.r.html Feb 07 06, 2:53 PM

gmackematix

The AMNH site that Memento's reference links to is no longer there. According to the reference it hadn't done more that just trot out the usual factoids anyway. I found a site that said that the World Wide Fund for Nature claimed that this fact is unsubstantiated. Annoyingly that link had gone too. I have seen a couple of sites that claim they are ambidextrous. Paws for thought... Feb 07 06, 6:45 PM

Baloo55th

I would like to know how they would find out anyway. It can't be the easiest thing to establish - is that bear right or left pawed? Or is it just going to bite me? If you have a pet dog or cat, just pause for a moment and think. Is it right or left pawed? I'll bet you didn't know - or still don't - and it lives with you. How much harder, then, with an animal living in a highly inhospitable environment and which is quite likely to regard you as a nice snack. Feb 07 06, 6:53 PM

gmackematix

http://www.sciam.com/askexpert_question.cfm?articleID=00063C8D-61EF-1C72-9EB7809EC588F2D7&catID=3&topicID=3 Note that in that article, it points out that: 1. the proportion of one handedness to the other is hard to determine even in humans. 2. there is no consensus that this sort of handedness exists at all in non-humans. This factoid is looking more like made-up non-echoing duck's quackery by the minute. Feb 07 06, 7:11 PM

mementoflash

Q: Is it true that polar bears are left handed? (Jennifer, Florence, Italy) A: We urbanized folks don't get many chances to find out. I, for one, am grateful. What should I do if a hungry, gigantic, mean male races across the broken ice pack at 18 mph (29 km/h) to eat me? Duck to his right! Polar bears are left-handed, according to Inupiaq (IN-yoo-pack) elders. I'll take their word for it. The Inupiaq dwell in the icy lands on the North Slope of Alaska near present-day Barrow. These Inuits have lived with such creatures over the past several thousand years. They know. "Avoid his lethal left!" They say. I was unable to find any scientific studies of polar-bear handedness. Instead, I based my answer on anthropologist Richard Nelson's account. In the 1960s, Nelson spent about a year living with the Inupiaq in the tiny village of Wainwright. "Inupiaq elders say polar-bears are left-handed, so you have a slightly better chance to avoid their right paw, which is slower and less accurate," says Nelson. Feb 07 06, 8:32 PM