[warent]

Can't this just be chalked down to acquired skill made possible through superior intelligence? i.e if other animals could practice and learn as effectively at us, perhaps a silverback gorilla or something could throw better than humans

[adwn]

I don't think so. As far as I know, other primates' arms lack our range of motion – for example, chimpanzees are unable to touch the back of their heads; that makes powerful throwing basically impossible.

[ansible]

I don't have a linky for this, but I'm sure people have tried to teach apes & chimps to throw. Aside from chimps teaching themselves to throw poo at zoo visitors.

But in general they don't have the neural hardware to precisely time the release as accurately as we do. Even a millisecond difference changes the trajectory a lot.

[Rastonbury]

Wonder how they'd fair if gorillas trained the same way as an olympic thrower

[kaba0]

No source either, but I believe it also has to do with the composition of our muscle fibers. Other apes have more powerful fibers, but this comes at the cost of less accuracy. Throwing requires both.

[kevin_thibedeau]

They can't. Powerful throwing requires use of the legs that no other primate can match.