Why do we have a dominant hand?

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Why do we have a dominant hand?

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Anonymous 0 Comments

No other creature, not even the closest primates have a dominant hand. It is something unique to humans and earlier Homo species like the Neanderthals and even earlier ancestors, and just like today they were mostly right-handed. The evidence for this is in things like cave paintings (hunters were shown holding weapons in the right hand) and skeletons (the right arm bones were larger which is the case in modern humans to). One theory is the part of the brain to do with tool use is known to reside in the left-side of the brain so when we started to use tools heavily we evolved to become right handed (the left side of the brain controls the right side of our body). What’s interesting is that we aren’t 100% right-handed as a species, there is some kind of evolutionary benefit for some of us to be left-handed. Some of that could be to do with the brain and how the two hemispheres are linked differently in left handed people, another hypothesis that left-handed people appear to have a slight benefit in physical combat (it may also explain why left-handedness is more common in men than women). If all you are used to fighting is right-handed people and you suddenly encounter someone left-handed you are at a disadvantage. It is still a thing in modern sports like boxing, lefties win more.

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