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The postural origin hypothesis and the task complexity hypothesis propose that hand preference in non-human primates evolved in association with body posture and task complexity, respectively. The results of previous studies testing these two hypotheses, however, vary greatly with the different primate species and methods used. To investigate the effect of body posture and task complexity on hand preference, we recorded bouts of hand usage in nine captive northern white-cheeked gibbons (Nomascus leucogenys) housed at Beijing Zoo as they reached for food items in a ground-reaching task, a box task, and a tube task. The results showed that four to seven of the nine gibbons displayed a hand preference at the individual level in different tasks, and that hand preference in individuals was task-specific; there was no group-level hand preference in any task. The box task seemed to elicit a greater …