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Could an animal be taught how to throw accurately?

Just thinking about how I’ve read that humans are the only animals on the planet that can throw objects with a degree of accuracy. But could a dog or other animal be taught, and trained to throw things to hit a target? I mean, it’s not like a human can throw well without guidance and practice, either.

NemoWuMing ,

I’ve read that humans are the only animals on the planet that can throw objects with a degree of accuracy.

Were you reading some Mormon booklet? Anyway, you were misled, but cheer up, you can probably find better reading material, starting with the several answers you got here.

BallsandBayonets ,

Hey now, that’s not fair to say. Most Christian denominations promote terrible science education, not just the Mormons.

j4k3 ,
@j4k3@lemmy.world avatar

Sure, just devise a plan where throwing better results in statistical sexual advantages and wait 50k years. Problem is, by that time, the universe will be a monoculture of Arch Linux users.

JayleneSlide ,

Ever see a toucan in person? I had an employee with a toucan he would sometimes bring into work. It could throw things, especially round fruit, with uncanny accuracy. Like it could easily play catch from at least 2m away.

Glaucous-winged gulls also seem to have uncanny accuracy with defecation, but that’s not quite throwing.

Kolanaki OP , (edited )
@Kolanaki@yiffit.net avatar

Ever see a toucan in person?

Yeah, actually. They had one for sale at Pet Supply Plus near me years ago and I researched how to care for them while I saved up to buy it only to find it was sold when I got the cash. :(

BradleyUffner ,

My understanding is that primates in zoos have fantastic aim.

Kraiden ,

This was my first thought too. Those fuckers have great aim, and disgusting choice in projectiles

neidu2 ,

I don’t remember where (sweden?), but there was this zoo with a chimp who was infamous for throwing rocks at guests that annoyed him. He was also observed collecting a small pile of rocks in the morning that he could use as ammo. So not only was he a decent thrower, but he was also making physical preparation to a negative emotion that he was expecting to feel later in the day - a trait previously not associated with animals.

snooggums ,
@snooggums@midwest.social avatar

Most animals don’t have the right bone structure and muscles to throw. A dog for example doesn’t have the range of motion to throw a ball with their forelimbs.

Apes, monkeys, and other aboreal creatures can fling or throw things with some level of accuracy, but not nearly as well as humans.

ceiphas ,

I was at a zoo at a guided feeding of chimpanzees. The wuide showed us by example, that the apes were way better at aiming than him, and If you give them a food they don’t like, you should wear a helmet, AS they Hit your face with a cabbage from 30m away.

SatansMaggotyCumFart ,

Truly a better war machine then a catapult.

Today ,

My dog used to throw a tennis ball. He could make it land on your lap pretty consistently.

lettruthout ,

Our dog taught himself how to roll a ball with pretty good accuracy. Coming home from our morning walks we’d play a game where he’d push the ball so it would roll down our driveway. I’d return it. With much concentration and practice he got good at getting it to roll all the way down - even sometimes doing bank shots.

Anticorp ,

Our last dog was a master of throwing a tennis ball under your foot while you were walking so that you almost broke your ankle.

Papanca ,

I vaguely recall dolphins and seals being trained to throw a ball through a hoop. Don’t know about the distance though

PhlubbaDubba ,

You’d be shocked how crazy it actually is that human arms work the way they do.

Primate arm structure is what gives us the ability to throw with predictable accuracy and it’s something that just does not exist anywhere else in the animal kingdom.

It’s so exclusive that Goji Center used it as a part of their “improved” Indominus Rex to give it primitive tool use and also to add a bit of very disturbing world building about what exactly is in that thing’s genetic components.

The point here is that it is down to a very unique musculoskeletal pattern of our “front legs” that we can throw good, and make use of all that training to possibly throw gooder, and that other animals being able to do the same at the same level as the primate family would have made this planet exponentially more dangerous than it already is.

Imagine a mountain lion being able to chuck a spear. That shit would make living in the Rockies almost dangerous enough to justify how crazy half the people that come out of there are!

Sanctus ,
@Sanctus@lemmy.world avatar

Maybe you could train an elephant to toss something with its trunk. Or one of our ape cousins. But humans are made to do exactly this.

fogstormberry ,

I’m sure you could train a bird with accuracy, if they aren’t already, but it wouldn’t really be throwing

treadful ,
@treadful@lemmy.zip avatar

Obligatory.

Fermion , (edited )

I swear some squirrels that didn’t appreciate our hammock location could hit me with pine cones 7 times out of 10.

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