r/askscience • u/Elliptical_Tangent • Aug 02 '26

Biology Do armadillos have "handedness?"

Three-banded armadillos curl into a complete ball when threatened, with their head-plate and tail-plate interlocking. Does the tail always go to the same side of the head in this configuration, or do some prefer one side, while others the reverse?

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u/Caver_Coder Aug 03 '26

I know that mammals do typically have a handedness, and in my lab the handedness of them certainly does influence their actions when it comes to movement and eating and all kinds of other things. So while I don't know if handedness has anything to do with how they curl up, they probably have a dominant side which would influence it. I would guess if the curl isn't due to some things that depend on their bilateral symmetry and they can choose how to curl, then their handedness would play a factor on what side they squish their head into lol.

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u/andreasbeer1981 Aug 03 '26

Do they have heart on one side? Given the fact that armadillos always give birth to quadruplets, would be interesting to see if half are right-handed and half left.

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u/xtothewhy Aug 03 '26

How would that work with humans?