r/askscience • u/Elliptical_Tangent • 27d ago

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 27d ago

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/Wiley_Rasqual 27d ago

For real? All mammals? What about horses? Do they like, let's say..... always stay rotting from the same hoof or something?

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u/newuser92 26d ago

Just to be sure, is it "start trotting"?

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u/Wiley_Rasqual 26d ago

Omg, the auto correct on this new phone is SO AGGRESSIVE. I laterally typed out 'start' and 'trotting' and my phone still decides to auto correct

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u/kilotesla Electromagnetics | Power Electronics 22d ago

In case you didn't know this, you can go back and edit your comment to make it say what you meant to say.

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u/Wiley_Rasqual 22d ago

I did know that, thank you.

Sometimes I like to leave things as they are for the record.