Hummingbird hawkmoths may be 'left- or right-eyed' when feeding with their proboscis

Hummingbird hawkmoths may have their own version of being left-handed or right-handed, using one preferred eye and one side of their long feeding tube together to search flowers for nectar.The discovery, made by a team of biologists at the University of Konstanz, shows how creatures with small brains save mental energy when making precise physical movements.In a study titled Conservation of a lateralized visuomotor axis in hawkmoth proboscis probing, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), researchers Lochlan Walsh and Anna Stöckl tracked how these day-active insects check food sources while hovering in mid-air.Humans regularly favour one hand for writing or one foot for kicking a ball, a physical preference known as lateralization. Animals ranging from birds to octopuses show similar preferences with their arms, legs, or antennae.