Fossils of an ancient sea creature are the oldest evidence of right-handedness
Researchers analyzed more than 100 fossils and found a 2-to-1 left-bending pattern that suggests the ancient animal could move and favored its right side.
- On Thursday, researchers published a study in Scientific Reports revealing that Spriggina fossils dating back about 550 million years demonstrate a distinct right-sided behavioral preference.
- Paleontologists long debated whether the creature's curved body resulted from environmental forces like currents or intentional movement, prompting researchers to examine more than 100 fossils.
- Lead author Scott Evans, an assistant curator at the American Museum of Natural History, found that twice as many fossils bent left, indicating rightward body curvature in life.
- Diego García-Bellido, a senior paleontology researcher at the South Australian Museum and associate professor at Adelaide University, noted this indicates Spriggina possessed a nervous system connected to muscles.
- While no animal alive today resembles Spriggina, the creature established an evolutionary foundation for directional preference, a trait now common in humans, primates, mice, frogs, and insects.
37 Articles
37 Articles
An international group of scientists found that the creature Spriggina floundersi, which lived about 550 million years ago, could be the oldest example of right-handness, and the study also showed that one of the first animals on Earth already had complex behavior and ability to move independently.
If you are right-handed, you can trace the origin of this feature to an animal similar to a worm that lived about 550 million years ago and had a tendency to bend to the right. Spriggina floundersi appeared in the oceans during the Ediacaran Period (between 635 million and 542 million years ago), at the dawn of the first forms of animal life. The flattened and segmented body of the small creature, known only for fossils found in what is now sout…
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