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potential successor species to humanity; Who'd fill in our niche?
Topic Started: Oct 11 2017, 09:16 AM (2,086 Views)
DinosaurMichael
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What species do you think would eventually replace us if humanity were to suddenly go extinct? I've listed down a list of potential candidates.

-Crows/Ravens
-Great Apes
-Raccoons (You'd be surprised how intelligent and clever they are)
-Rats (Same as raccoons)

I would say cephalopods and dolphins/killer whales as well but not sure at the same time as they live in the ocean.
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Carnoferox
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While maybe not the most likely, it would be interesting to see sapient corvids. I wonder if they would re-evolve fingers for grasping and manipulating objects or if they would just continue to use their beaks and feet.
Edited by Carnoferox, Oct 11 2017, 09:33 AM.
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Physeter
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All of them are possible, except rats IMO.
they're way too small to have a chance to dominate their environment (except if the evolution started on an isolated island).
Cephalopods are indeed intelligent, but are not likely, since from the very first moment a dominant vertebrate apperared, none of the invertebrates were able to dethrone any of the vertebrates (not likely doesn't mean impossible though).
Crows are small, but their flight is a huge help for them to start to dominate their environment.
All in all, I would say that Raccoons are the most likely candidate. And please no another hominid, I'm sick of it.

By the way, Ursid have a rather good dexterity too when compared to most of other mammals, and their huge size is a good start for them. I'd actually give the Ursids a chance to become the next dominant species, since the apes that we've evolved from weren't really a rocket scientist compared to other animals to begin with.
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Jinfengopteryx
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I think it would at the very least take hundreds of millions of years until a new civilisation could emerge on Earth. It has so far only happened once in Earth's history, so it's got to be an extraordinary event.
But of the species you listed, maybe some descendant of rats (though it'd have to grow in size first)? They are by far the most numerous of the animals you listed and they should have the best chances.
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Taipan
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A social, intelligent and territorial animal - Wolves would be a great candidate. Chimpanzees too.
Edited by Taipan, Oct 11 2017, 07:02 PM.
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DinosaurMichael
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Taipan
Oct 11 2017, 06:59 PM
A social, intelligent and territorial animal - Wolves would be a great candidate. Chimpanzees too.
The way I see it. Chimpanzees could basically restart the whole rise of man all over again, as in an real Planet of the Apes I may say. ;)

Especially considering many chimpanzees around the world would break out of zoos same with perhaps gorillas and orangutans.
Edited by DinosaurMichael, Oct 11 2017, 07:21 PM.
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Jinfengopteryx
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That being said, if we ignore stuff like population sizes (which is my main concern with great apes) or if we assume that they can quickly recover after humanity's demise, I'd also say chimpanzees are the best candidate. We don't know what is necessary for a civilisation starting animal, but we know that chimpanzees are most similar to the one animal of which we know that it has the necessary qualities.

BTW, I've heard that any species capable of starting a civilisation would have to be about human-sized. The size range between a dog and a bear is seen as optimal (Source). Anything below that does not have enough brain cells. Anything above that would require a too overspecialised brain. This would be one advantage chimpanzees (and wolves) would have over say rats and crows.
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Thalassophoneus
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How possible is it that some ape would replace us only a few million years after our extinction.
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zergthe
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Well, since it took a very long time for a sentient being like a human to swing around, I'd say it could be maybe just a few hundreds of thousands of years, or, if the apes do not, many million more before another comes along.
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Jinfengopteryx
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Something that just came to my mind:
How will humanity's successors deal with the lack of fossil fuels? Will they make the leap from medieval technology to renewable energies in one step? Or will they have to wait for hundreds of millions of years until the fossil fuels have renewed?
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zergthe
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That's some food for thought for sure...
They'd need to jump from crude to renewable if it's going to be an ape that takes our place; I just don't see them living for many millions of years after us.
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Meancat
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What about Dolphins? They have a much higher Encephalization quotient than corvids, nonhuman apes, raccoons, and rats. A dolphin's EQ is around 4-5, while a chimp's and Ravens are 2.49. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Encephalization_quotient However, I think dolphins would have to evolve fingers first because it would be difficult to use and make complex tools without fingers.
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Ausar
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Encephalization quotient is a problematic metric for intelligence. Its usefulness in predicting the prevalence of any cognitive trait is not universal even just among cetaceans, let alone all mammals, never mind all animals (see pages 29-31 of this book).
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Meancat
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I think EQ, just like the brain to body mass ratio, is biased in favor of smaller animals.
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Jinfengopteryx
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Meancat
Nov 22 2017, 08:36 AM
What about Dolphins? They have a much higher Encephalization quotient than corvids, nonhuman apes, raccoons, and rats. A dolphin's EQ is around 4-5, while a chimp's and Ravens are 2.49. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Encephalization_quotient However, I think dolphins would have to evolve fingers first because it would be difficult to use and make complex tools without fingers.
Dolphins are quite intelligent, but you've already mentioned the lack of fingers (though an atavism could fix that) and I don't know how they're going to tackle the resource/energy problem. Combustion is hard underwater.
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