|
I've been doing research about the idea of a 6th great extinction, basically arguing that [i]Homo Sapiens{/i] are to what current life what the comet was to the dinosaurs.
As depressing as that is, I thought it would be fun to speculate on what species radiates and fills all the ecological niches we are emptying.
Rats are one biologists favorite.
I like Corvids taking over because of a bird based religion a designed for a campaign. Besides, their Dinosaurs and Dinosaurs reconquering the Earth is kinda cool.
Random Girl I met today liked felines taking over. My Cats like this too.
Bats...they mentioned them in Primeval as taking over.
So, anyway, what are your thoughts?
Basically, the only rule is the species must be small and unassuming and a likely canidate to survive the world were screwing up.
Have a nice day,
Kerney
It'll probably be kobolds. Yuck!
Or cockroach-kobold hybrids.
Or spammer-cockroach-kobold hybrids.
Up until recently, I would have answered "cockroaches", which I think would be a pretty common answer. Since then, I've read that some scientists believe that cockroaches actually wouldn't survive outside of equatorial/tropical regions, once humans disappeared and heated buildings went away with them.
I think rats are a pretty solid bet, but in terms of mass colonization of the planet, I think I'm going to go with ants.
I don't know if there's going to be time for anything else to make a come back. Humans are all over the planet. If we blow everything to hell to the point that we're extinct, we're down to mice if we're lucky and more likely bacterium. There won't be time for earth to evolve anything else before the sun bakes us to a crisp.
World peace: because like it or not, we're earths only hope for space travel.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Nah man, I'm sure the Earth will be happy with Plastic inheriting it.
|
As canetoads migrate across North Australia they are getting physically larger, more powerful and increasingly poisonous to the predators that eat them. Crocodiles, snakes, goannas all dying off. Canetoads as big as tonka trucks now.
They respond to environmental toxins with deformities like extra limbs and eyes.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Depends on how the earth is destroyed.
If the ideas of Global Warming/Cooling/Whatever environmental disaster is your favorite are correct, then we could expect the Oceans may become PHd Intolerant for a majority of the species in it, the earth itself will have drastic changes...and it could be some of the smaller and more resistant creatures that survive. Cockroaches probably have just as many chances as some sort of ant...though some snakes seem pretty resilient as well.
If we nuke the planet to kingdom come and back...I don't think anything will be inheriting the earth...everything will die eventually from the radiation...well...there is a small chance. The Ocean seems to clear radiation faster than most things, so we may see some of the sea creatures come into the dominant species eventually. For a while, some liked Octopus's as a favored creature.
If we wipe ourselves out from some sort of biological weapons, if it only affects humans, who knows, maybe some other form of ape will take our place.
|
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
As canetoads migrate across North Australia they are getting physically larger, more powerful and increasingly poisonous to the predators that eat them. Crocodiles, snakes, goannas all dying off. Canetoads as big as tonka trucks now.
They respond to environmental toxins with deformities like extra limbs and eyes.
But Slaadi aren't Open Content.
That can't be right.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Depends on how the earth is destroyed.
If the ideas of Global Warming/Cooling/Whatever environmental disaster is your favorite are correct, then we could expect the Oceans may become PHd Intolerant for a majority of the species in it, the earth itself will have drastic changes...and it could be some of the smaller and more resistant creatures that survive. Cockroaches probably have just as many chances as some sort of ant...though some snakes seem pretty resilient as well.
If we nuke the planet to kingdom come and back...I don't think anything will be inheriting the earth...everything will die eventually from the radiation...well...there is a small chance. The Ocean seems to clear radiation faster than most things, so we may see some of the sea creatures come into the dominant species eventually. For a while, some liked Octopus's as a favored creature.
If we wipe ourselves out from some sort of biological weapons, if it only affects humans, who knows, maybe some other form of ape will take our place.
I don't know if it would be the octopodes, but I'd definitely cheer for them. They're such awesome animals.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I'd be tempted to choose a small, common mammal with a wide geographic range as a candidate to evolve into a sentient species. Something like Brown Rats or Red Foxes. Both are relatively intelligent, have populations across a multiple climates and continents, are fairly adaptable and able to live in rural and urban environments. You'd probably get an initial increase in population of both species if humans became extinct followed by heavy selection pressures as food supplies dwindled.
So, yeah, Ratfolk and Kitsune.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Probably the honey badger.
Dropbears.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Actually, what makes for an anthropocene great extinction isn't the death of biomass, as much as the death of biodiversity. Even Mesolithic humans contributed to the rapid decline and extinction of most large animals outside Africa and Eurasia proper, from mammoths and ground sloths in the Americas, giant lemurs and elephant birds in Madagascar, giant wombats in Australia, etc.
So when you're looking at a human-caused extinction, don't imagine wide swaths of land depopulated of everything, but instead thing of wide swaths of biodiverse wildlands replaced with, say, sheep pasture, or wheat fields. Thousands of species, reduced to the few that can survive (or are allowed to survive) in these new environments.
So, what's radiating outward to fill these niches? Sheep. Pigs. Humans. Wheat. Corn. Rice. Cattle. Chickens.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Rabbits. Corrosive ones.
|
|
I'd be tempted to choose a small, common mammal with a wide geographic range as a candidate to evolve into a sentient species. Something like Brown Rats or Red Foxes. Both are relatively intelligent, have populations across a multiple climates and continents, are fairly adaptable and able to live in rural and urban environments. You'd probably get an initial increase in population of both species if humans became extinct followed by heavy selection pressures as food supplies dwindled.
So, yeah, Ratfolk and Kitsune.
Corvids are small, smart, adaptable and being avian would have an advantage in a low oxygen environment. Felines are also highly adaptable. So how about tengu and catfolk too?
Monkeys will reevolve into humans.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
They already had their chance. Monkeys get voted off the island by the rest.
Jellyfish
aliens
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Tardigrades. They adapt to every environment it seems.
Rabbits. Corrosive ones.Gamma World's Hoops?
Oh, God, no.
I miss Gamma World.
(Then again, I started developing a world where intergenerational mutations were called Delta, and that certain rare factors in the air could trigger Delta in otherwise fixed animals and plants, causing agrarian societies to be staunchly anti-Delta. The term "Delta Breeze" was a very, very scary thing in that world...)
They already had their chance. Monkeys get voted off the island by the rest.
No way. Monkeys got mad survival skilz.
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
Monkeys will reevolve into humans.
Lately, a lot of my interactions with humans in the real world would suggest that many of them are gleefully devolving back into monkeys.
Monkeys will reevolve into humans.Lately, a lot of my interactions with humans in the real world would suggest that many of them are gleefully devolving back into monkeys.
And those are the ones that will use radiation as nitro for the evolutionary engine.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Whatever the future holds, this is already the anthrocentric geological age. We've already caused another great extinction and thats going to be in the fossil record for a while.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I believe the children are our future.
It takes a lot of guts to post pictures of yourself to an internet message board.
I applaud your courage.
Squirrels!!!!
Preppers
I believe the children are our future.It takes a lot of guts to post pictures of yourself to an internet message board.
I applaud your courage.
Oh; that's not me.
nsfw?
I believe the children are our future.It takes a lot of guts to post pictures of yourself to an internet message board.
I applaud your courage.Oh; that's not me.
nsfw?
I must now return to university and take a creative writing poetry degree so that I may find the words appropriate to express how much I dislike you at this moment.
|
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I believe the children are our future.
Harvesting children for their blood and organs for long life? You are going to cause peak child. Next the price of children will skyrocket. Black market trade in harvestable children, abductions, wars. The Rich living forever.
All your fault.
I believe the children are our future.Harvesting children for their blood and organs for long life? You are going to cause peak child. Next the price of children will skyrocket. Black market trade in harvestable children, abductions, wars. The Rich living forever.
All your fault.
Just goes to show you, you never know who might be a kidney thief so always ALWAYS pre-emptively rohypnol.
"But your Honour, I did rohypnol her in self-defense!"
Or...
"Yes, your Honour, I do believe it's the first case of both parties rohypnoling each other here in Iowa."
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Squirrels!!!!
Shhhh!
To the original discussion: Enough mutations from radiation will kickstart the bizarreness festival that replaces us. Here's hoping for otyughs.
Still... Humans did not do much for most of their existence as a species either. It took a good, long while.
Maybe humans will evolve into goblins.
| 5 people marked this as a favorite. |
Maybe humans will evolve into goblins.
Have you ever been to a grade school?
To the original discussion: Enough mutations from radiation will kickstart the bizarreness festival that replaces us. Here's hoping for otyughs.
Still... Humans did not do much for most of their existence as a species either. It took a good, long while.
We've only been anatomically modern Homo Sapiens for 200,000 years. That's the blink of an eye in evolutionary terms. Our last common ancestor with Chimpanzeees is a mere 7m years ago. We're babies!
It is true though that we've only accumulated a lot of our current defining characteristics very recently. Symbolic thought (carvings of animals etc) is only 50-70k years old, the first towns are only 9-10k years ago. We spent a very long time getting amazing at making stone handaxes and it sort of snowballed from there.
|
I believe the children are our future.
How long has that pic been around already? Damn, I feel internet geriatric...
Maybe humans will evolve into goblins.
Ahead of my time, I tell you.