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potential successor species to humanity; Who'd fill in our niche?
Topic Started: Oct 11 2017, 09:16 AM (2,088 Views)
moldovan0731
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Great apes, obviously. They're already quite intelligent, and have nearly as opposable thumbs as humans (kinda boring, I know).
Edited by moldovan0731, Dec 26 2017, 04:23 AM.
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Meancat
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Which great ape specifically? I'd say the chimp because they demonstrate the most sophisticated tool use of all the apes. Chimps have been observed sharpening sticks to make spears.
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Bruno
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Well, strange question, potential successor in what?

Our main predators today are mosquitoes. Deadly hunters of humans which kill millions every year but they can feed on other food resources as well.

Our main competitors today on the same food resources are the rats. A fierce competitor and past history shows that when food ressources are not sufficient for both species, the rats eliminate the humans (without taking into account all the disesases they can also transmit).

If we diseappear tomorrow it will also be a desaster for the rats because they will also become short in food just because we today work for them as well. But I'm sure that after a sharp decline in number they will take over and they will become (they probably already are) the dominant specy.

No hope from the ape side, the primates are already a declining order that already lost many species.

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Grazier
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There isn't one. There's not a niche we are filling, that's why we are such a problem, we're a freak outlier. If we were gone everything would go back to normal, nothing would take over this power imbalance, it's not supposed to be there at all.
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Grimace
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Probably something boring like another great ape.

Coolest mode would be corvids and amphibious octopus.
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Jinfengopteryx
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Aspiring paleontologist, science enthusiast and armchair speculative fiction/evolution writer
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Bruno
Dec 29 2017, 08:51 PM
Well, strange question, potential successor in what?
Grazier
Dec 30 2017, 07:46 AM
There isn't one. There's not a niche we are filling
I don't think the thread's subject is about filling any niches. Rather about the best candidate for a species other than humans to master fire, go to the Moon, build computers, do science, cure diseases and build a civilisation. That kind of stuff.
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Meancat
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I still think dolphins are second only to humans in intelligence. The tucuxi is similar in weight to a chimp yet has a much larger brain. Elephants are a possible candidate as well, although they may be too large and have a brain over specialized for memory. According to this source, elephants are smarter than chimps and outperformed them on some numerical test. https://www.thedailybeast.com/animal-iqs
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Sinornis
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DinosaurMichael
Oct 11 2017, 09:16 AM
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.
Crows, raccoons, and my personal favorite, the coyote. Believe it or not, coyotes are now populating New York City.
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zergthe
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Grazier
Dec 30 2017, 07:46 AM
There isn't one. There's not a niche we are filling, that's why we are such a problem, we're a freak outlier. If we were gone everything would go back to normal, nothing would take over this power imbalance, it's not supposed to be there at all.
There is always a niche. Things without a niche are extinct. We are just the first known animal to utilize said niche and our only real competitors are other hominoid species, which are either extinct or plummeting there.
If we had no place in nature, the Pan/Homo split would’ve died right there, 6-8 million years ago.
Edited by zergthe, Mar 5 2018, 10:33 AM.
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Jinfengopteryx
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it should be noted that the word "niche" describes the set of environmental conditions a species needs to survive, not if it is "supposed to be there" or if the world "needs it".
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zergthe
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I suppose. I was merely going with those who are extinct vs those still extant as an ideology.
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Jinfengopteryx
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Sure, I was just adding to what you said. Grazier's view of nature is too teleological.
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SuetheRex
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We as humans can be considered a singularity born thanks to a geological event that built a new habitat where our ancestors lived and evolved. If Humans where all of sudden extint, considering an extent of few thousand years, we would have Lions and Elephant being the top of the chain in Africa. Grizzly dominating in North America. Tigers in Asia along with Indian elephants etc etc. Wildlife would be back to pre human levels and the good old rule of the stronger would be in place. Now talking in a span of a million years things gets difficults. For sure there would be an evolution battle in the ocean between Orcas and Sharks, with GWS evolving in bigger speciemens. On land i think also we would get big wildlife for both predators and erbivores, with some big elephants reaching 10 tons.Maybe also bigger crocs. Birds would dominate air as always. Cards would be messed up heavily by Extintion events. An eventual super volcano eruption or meteor impact would change everything. Every form of macro mammals would go extinct and it would be down again with small birds vs small mammals for the next "weapon race". Maybe we would see some birds going back on dinosaur traits and then dominating land? Or mammals once again back on top? Who knows. But i think that for another human like species we would have to wait A LOT.
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K9 Bite
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I agree with Sue, Humans are a bit of a anomaly in the natural world....of course my best candidate would be a intelligent animal that can manipulate its enviorment through some limb and have the capabilities of problem solving.
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Claudiu Constantin Nicolaescu
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@K9 Bite: Beavers and ants can build shelters, and crows can solve problems. All life forms can manipulate their environment and respond to changes in their environment.
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