WASHINGTON ¨C In most respects, chimpanzees are physically superior to humans. Pound for pound, they are perhaps four times stronger. They are faster. They can run straight up a tree, climb and swing with an agility that is the envy of an Olympic gymnast.
But ask a chimp to throw a 145-kph fastball over home plate ¡ª something even the average Major Leaguer can do ¡ª and the chimp is a chump. Chimps can throw only about 30 kph, a speed a Little Leaguer would laugh at, and their accuracy is pathetic.
The reason for the difference is anatomical ¡ª the result of critical physical changes in the shoulder, arm and torso of the species Homo erectus that first appeared 2 million years ago, a team of scientists suggested Wednesday in the journal Nature. These adaptations allow the storage and rapid release of the elastic energy that powers the arms of flame-throwing hurlers, such as the Washington Nationals¡¯ Stephen Strasburg.
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