5 Amazing Facts to Celebrate Left-Handers Day
(Your editor is a member of the 11% Club.)
On August 13, 1992, International Left-Handers Day was established to increase awareness by the public on the disadvantages and advantages of being a leftie. Left-handed or not, you may be surprised by the following 5 facts about southpaws…
About 11 Percent of People Around the World Are Left-Handed. In the old days, both parents and teachers tried to train a left-handed child to use their right hand instead. It all has to do with the way the brain is wired, and some people are just wired differently. Many left-handed people tend to have the right-hand side of the brain as dominant, and this controls areas such as creativity, art and music, while right-handers use their left hemisphere more. The left hemisphere controls areas such as science, math, writing and language.
Half of All Cats Are Left-Handed. Lefties may be under-represented in the human species, but our furry friends in the animal kingdom are more than making up for it. Around 50 per cent of cats are left-handed, according to research. Other dominant left-handed animals include kangaroos, which tend to favor their left paw for things like grooming and eating. Also, studies have shown that 90% of parrots use their left foot to pick things up.
There Are Many Famous Left-Handers. At least four of the past seven presidents have been left-handed: Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush and Gerald Ford. Ronald Reagan also often shows up on the list of lefties even though he wrote with his right hand. Lefties in the British royal family include the Queen Mother, Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Charles, and Prince William.