Who's next to take our place?

[TheCalliton]

reptiles, they are strong and hardy and ready tog o from hatching

[Vindekarr]

M'kay, so I've been studing histroy lately, European histroy to set the reins straight, but there's also past events, ideals, ect. So, I've been wondering about the future too, and questioned who would take our place as the world's dominant species when we finally take to our graves.

 

So, imagine, if you will, that a worldwide virus, only fatal to humans, killed every last one of us. Who, then, would take up the seat for Earth's next ruling species? Besides monkeys and apes plz.

 

IMAO, Elephants would defiently be a possibility. The saying: "An elephant never forgets" isn't an exaggreation; they can remember things better than any known species on the planet other than us, sometimes over ruling that. They have been known to perform rituals over their fallen and rediscovered family members, passing on their bones from one another by trunk to grieve their loss. Infact, some have been known to break into buildings to retrieve these bones from their family members.

 

But that's just MO. What do you think?

 

Dolphins too are exceptionaly well evolved.

 

But I think a surprise contender could well be spiders.

 

Spiders have an ability to adapt rapidly to-and to reconise and capitalise on environmental changes that only wolves match. Take Jumping Spiders for example, such as the Phippidus strain. Since humans started living in houses, these have grown bigger, learned to survive in houses, seem to have learned to avoid pesticide, and are more common indoors than out.

 

Or Wolf Spiders, which can seemingly live in any environment, and can be found literaly anywhere except the arctic circle. (they're cold blooded but have a full cardiovascular system, Cold + CVS = no lizards, snakes, spiders, scorpions) Wolf Spiders, such as the formidible Lycosa Tarantula, are exceptionaly resourceful, frighteningly cunning. and astoundingly adaptable. They also are one of several spider species to completely shirk web building.

 

In grass, they dig a burrow in a shaowy spot, and then hunt by lying very very still until the prey is close, then rushing forward like a pouncing lion, and then pursuing across grassland as long as need be.

 

In houses, they tend to lurk in crevices and dark holes, using their dark, perfectly camouflaged bodies, cold blood, and lack of external moving parts(they can breath without moving) to remain undetected, a tactic to limit the need to pursue over open wall space.

 

In trees, they like to drop down on prey, lying perfectly still while using their naturaly evolved wood pattern camouflage to become nearly invisible.

 

Lastly, they have powerfully evolved brains, capable nervous systems, can live in water by virtue of their Book Lungs, and have better vision than a human across a much braqoder field of view.

[HappyHerring]

Do not both spiders & insects both have a serious size constraint problem due to the way in which they absorb air? I'm probably wrong & would not mind someone with better knowledge proving me wrong, either that or I can google it.

[Keanumoreira]

M'kay, so I've been studing histroy lately, European histroy to set the reins straight, but there's also past events, ideals, ect. So, I've been wondering about the future too, and questioned who would take our place as the world's dominant species when we finally take to our graves.

 

So, imagine, if you will, that a worldwide virus, only fatal to humans, killed every last one of us. Who, then, would take up the seat for Earth's next ruling species? Besides monkeys and apes plz.

 

IMAO, Elephants would defiently be a possibility. The saying: "An elephant never forgets" isn't an exaggreation; they can remember things better than any known species on the planet other than us, sometimes over ruling that. They have been known to perform rituals over their fallen and rediscovered family members, passing on their bones from one another by trunk to grieve their loss. Infact, some have been known to break into buildings to retrieve these bones from their family members.

 

But that's just MO. What do you think?

 

Dolphins too are exceptionaly well evolved.

 

 

That's what I was thinking 2. They do have good communication skills, and could essentially build an underwater empire. Too bad it's only an average guess. :dry:

[GetOutOfBox]

No other current animal/insect/life form we know of on this planet is currently evolved in such a way that it could control the planet as we have. Technology has made us an exception to the general order of nature, almost all other animals follow a controlled population size, they all play a part in maintaining a stable environment. We can bulldoze (metaphorically and literally) over any race that stands in the way of our expansion, there is no race that can stop us from expanding into its territory and hogging its resources. Our extremely developed and intricate social herd behavior also has given us unity in extremely large groups (humans form "herds" numbering in the millions vs most other social animals forming herds between 4 and 30, a few hundred at the max (with the exception of certain seasons when the animals gather for mating, etc) which allows us to compensate for our lack of individual strength in comparison to other animals like bears. Basically, all of our weaknesses are compensated (and vastly overcompansated) by our strengths, mainly our intelligence, intricate social behavior ,communication and physical dexterity. We literally have no weakness that can easily be exploited by another animal.

 

If we disappeared from the earth, there would unlikely be any vastly dominant race (cockroaches would have the highest population, but the lowest impact, they really couldn't "rule" the world due to their lack of any form of intelligence beyond autonomy). Most races would remain pretty equal to each other, with dominant races emerging in individual ecozones, but nothing that would rise to rule the world in our stead.

 

Given time (as in thousands of years) primates and some other animals may evolve to our level of intelligence, though for example, take dolphins, they're considered highly intelligent mammals (not as intelligent as us, but they definitely show some decent reasoning and planning), but even if their intelligence evolved to match ours, they'd still be hindered by the fact that due to their lack of limbs, they're not physically capable of constructing tools, exploring ideas through physical experiments, etc. Their development would be extremely held back by the fact that they could not implement it in any useful way beyond what they already do.

[marharth]

No other current animal/insect/life form we know of on this planet is currently evolved in such a way that it could control the planet as we have. Technology has made us an exception to the general order of nature, almost all other animals follow a controlled population size, they all play a part in maintaining a stable environment. We can bulldoze (metaphorically and literally) over any race that stands in the way of our expansion, there is no race that can stop us from expanding into its territory and hogging its resources. Our extremely developed and intricate social herd behavior also has given us unity in extremely large groups (humans form "herds" numbering in the millions vs most other social animals forming herds between 4 and 30, a few hundred at the max (with the exception of certain seasons when the animals gather for mating, etc) which allows us to compensate for our lack of individual strength in comparison to other animals like bears. Basically, all of our weaknesses are compensated (and vastly overcompansated) by our strengths, mainly our intelligence, intricate social behavior ,communication and physical dexterity. We literally have no weakness that can easily be exploited by another animal.

 

If we disappeared from the earth, there would unlikely be any vastly dominant race (cockroaches would have the highest population, but the lowest impact, they really couldn't "rule" the world due to their lack of any form of intelligence beyond autonomy). Most races would remain pretty equal to each other, with dominant races emerging in individual ecozones, but nothing that would rise to rule the world in our stead.

 

Given time (as in thousands of years) primates and some other animals may evolve to our level of intelligence, though for example, take dolphins, they're considered highly intelligent mammals (not as intelligent as us, but they definitely show some decent reasoning and planning), but even if their intelligence evolved to match ours, they'd still be hindered by the fact that due to their lack of limbs, they're not physically capable of constructing tools, exploring ideas through physical experiments, etc. Their development would be extremely held back by the fact that they could not implement it in any useful way beyond what they already do.

 

It is in the common belief that you would need to grow arms and whatnot before evolving in terms of intelligence.

[GetOutOfBox]

It is in the common belief that you would need to grow arms and whatnot before evolving in terms of intelligence.

 

I don't what you just said, are you agreeing or disagreeing with me?

 

From what I'm guessing you meant, I suggest re-reading my post, as I never said that an animal could not evolve to a have a higher intelligence, I merely stated that raw intelligence is not the only thing required to make a race such as ours, a species would need a combination of an advanced intelligence and a body capable of allowing the intelligence to observe and experiment with the world around it. The fact that dolphins lack any form of limb made for grasping limits there potential growth of intelligence, as without limbs or some other method to fashion tools, experiment with the world around it (i.e create fire) a race with a high intelligence will find little use for its advanced intelligence.

[marharth]

I wasn't really agree or disagreeing, I was kind of expanding on something you said.

 

If dolphins were to "take over" they would need to grow arms and legs BEFORE they were to reach their intelligence evolution.

[RobCoPublicReassurance]

I'd say Octupi. They are smart, adaptable, and I just plain like aquatic critters.

[Vindekarr]

Harharth, you're assuming they'd need to be terrestrial, and furthermore, that they simply couldnt build technology to replace limbs. Dolphins are tool builders, they wrap their snouts in kelp before rooting about in course sand. they use rocks, they use sticks, they're able to self recognise, they're basicaly as good as chims, but we think they're just dumb sea mammals because they dont have arms and legs, and frankly, that's just silly.

 

I mean, if I cut off Steven Hawking's arms and legs, would he be any less a genius? no, he'd still be one of the smartest people alive, only we'd have to call him Mat because he was a quadruple amputee. Number of legs does not effect intelligence or mentle ablity.

 

And Robco, i think you're spot on. Octopi are VERY smart, and logical, and clever, and cunning, and to indear them to people who demand legs over smartness, yes, they have legs. Or is that arms?

 

Wolves are a contender. It's been proven that whenever humans pull out, wolves move in. They're none too adaptable, but they're phenominaly intelligent.