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-   -   Human Race goes extinct!!! Can any species replace us? (https://www.pokecommunity.com/showthread.php?t=366925)

LegendChu April 10th, 2016 5:20 AM

Human Race goes extinct!!! Can any species replace us?
 
There are many animal species known to show intelligence.

Primates are known for their social communication & tool making abilities. Bats, whales & dolphins are known for their echolocation skills. Many species of wild animals like lions, cheetahs etc. show excellent teamwork while hunting their prey. Dogs are supposed to have the ability to understand human speech & so on.

But we humans (talking about homo sapiens - the "modern" human race) are considered to be on the top the tree, because of our superior intelligence, the skill of using language to communicate, more complex brains, greater social skills & a lot of other abilities considered far more superior to other species.

But what if were were to go extinct one day, like the dinosaurs. Is there any other species that can replace us?

Pika Pika :chu:

pkmin3033 April 10th, 2016 5:26 AM

We've already been replaced by mosquitoes; we just don't want to admit it.

Her April 10th, 2016 5:41 AM

When mankind is torn asunder by its own folly, vengeance wreaked upon itself by the hubris of its nations, I will be there. When the last outstretched fingers sink beneath the maelstrom and the last bones become ash in the fires spewing forth from Terra, I will be there. When the gods have left and the spirits have faded, I will be there. No other species will be capable of seeing through the demise of mankind. No other species will be satisfactory. But I will be there.

Grey Wind April 10th, 2016 7:06 AM

If/when something replaces us I hope it's dogs. They deserve it.

Exodrake April 10th, 2016 9:45 AM

I think the most likely candidate would either be another great ape species convergently evolving into another very human like creature to fill the ecological niche we left behind, or elephants, though having only one grasper would inhibit the latter.

Any egg-laying creature would never be able to come close to us, because egg-laying severely restricts brain and skeletal development, two things a sapient race needs in order to work.

Bellsprout April 10th, 2016 10:06 AM

well the way i see it dinosaurs/reptiles took over out of strength and humans/mammals took over because of intelligence. once humans go extinct i would imagine the world would be taken over by something small yet hardy considering all the chemicals/nuclear waste/overall polllution that will get left behind from us. perhaps the time of fungus or plants or maybe bacterias will take over for some time. as they can mutate/adapt fairly well

esperance April 10th, 2016 10:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ayselipera (Post 9198245)
well the way i see it dinosaurs/reptiles took over out of strength and humans/mammals took over because of intelligence. once humans go extinct i would imagine the world would be taken over by something small yet hardy considering all the chemicals/nuclear waste/overall polllution that will get left behind from us. perhaps the time of fungus or plants or maybe bacterias will take over for some time. as they can mutate/adapt fairly well

Cockroaches. Those things are indestructible.

Flowerchild April 10th, 2016 10:27 AM

Whatever they are, they probably won't have as good memes as we do, and frankly that's all that matters.

Pinkie-Dawn April 10th, 2016 10:33 AM

My list of possible replacements goes as follows:

Cephalopods
Cockroaches
Water Bears
Artificial Intelligence
Reptilian Shapeshifters

Esper April 10th, 2016 11:10 AM

Crows and ravens are pretty dang smart and adaptable. But yeah, apes are best suited to "replace" us because they're the most like us.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pinkie-Dawn (Post 9198277)
Reptilian Shapeshifters

Draco conspiracy?

Sun April 10th, 2016 1:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Youmu (Post 9198265)
Cockroaches. Those things are indestructible.

Gfdi, you beat me to it! But then and again, that's my Losty! ;)

Some people might wanna read this. (:
http://www.discovery.com/tv-shows/mythbusters/mythbusters-database/cockroaches-survive-nuclear-explosion/

Exodrake April 10th, 2016 2:52 PM

All hail cockroach overlords.

Palamon April 10th, 2016 3:32 PM

Sharks. Probably sharks.

polymorphism April 10th, 2016 3:58 PM

I think dogs and cats might be a good generic "top of the food chain" type of anime. Perhaps dogs moreso than cats. There was also a TV about life after humans.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_After_People

ShinyUmbreon189 April 10th, 2016 4:08 PM

If we were to go extinct it would be through nuclear war or an increase in uncontrollable diseases and or radiation meaning everything would go extinct. If radiation would be sent through the air then animals, plants, etc would be effected by it same with diseases, or it would turn us into mutants lol. If we were to go to nuclear war everything would incarcerate.

killer-curry April 10th, 2016 5:09 PM

Fall out generation.

gimmepie April 11th, 2016 2:34 AM

There are several animals with the potential to evolve human-esque intelligence should we for some reason go extinct without taking the planet with us. Off the top of my head other primates and octopi are good options.

Crizzle April 11th, 2016 9:44 AM

This is ridiculous. No animals will be able to take our place. After humans go bye bye, highly intelligent robots will take over.

Sir Codin April 11th, 2016 10:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Harley Quinn (Post 9197952)
-snip-

...and the call ME misanthropic.

Anywho, I think it would be cool if the species...or class in this case...that replaced us could be - in an ironic case of coming full circle....

REPTILES

That or octupi...we get little chibi-Cthulus taking over the earth.

gimmepie April 11th, 2016 10:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CarcharOdin (Post 9199534)
...and the call ME misanthropic.

Anywho, I think it would be cool if the species...or class in this case...that replaced us could be - in an ironic case of coming full circle....

REPTILES

That or octupi...we get little chibi-Cthulus taking over the earth.

Well I mean, Octopi are actually quite plausible. They're highly intelligent by most animal standards and display great problem-solving skills. They have very short lifespans right now though, so that would need to change.

LegendChu April 12th, 2016 8:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Exodrake (Post 9198224)
I think the most likely candidate would either be another great ape species convergently evolving into another very human like creature to fill the ecological niche we left behind.

Quote:

Originally Posted by gimmepie (Post 9199054)
There are several animals with the potential to evolve human-esque intelligence should we for some reason go extinct without taking the planet with us. Off the top of my head other primates and octopi are good options.

I guess, primates would be first choice that comes to mind, coz we evolved from them. But that is the problem, we evolved a lot, they didn't.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Youmu (Post 9198265)
Cockroaches. Those things are indestructible.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Exodrake (Post 9198476)
All hail cockroach overlords.

Dunno about them being suitable replacements, but yeah they are pretty much indestructible, capable of surviving even nuclear disasters, so one thing's for sure those little creepy crawlies will survive any mass extinction.

Pika Pika :chu:

Exodrake April 12th, 2016 3:12 PM

Other great apes aren't competing with us because our evolutionary path is an extremely niche and specialized one. Look at the awe-inspiring amount of extinct species in the genus Homo. Only one species of the genus remains. Evolutionary paths this specific and specialized leave little to no room for competitors, which is why no human-like species will appear unless the current occupier of that niche disappears first.

gimmepie April 13th, 2016 12:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LegendChu (Post 9200834)
I guess, primates would be first choice that comes to mind, coz we evolved from them. But that is the problem, we evolved a lot, they didn't.



Dunno about them being suitable replacements, but yeah they are pretty much indestructible, capable of surviving even nuclear disasters, so one thing's for sure those little creepy crawlies will survive any mass extinction.

Pika Pika :chu:

We didn't "evolve" from the other primates in the sense you're thinking of. We are primates and share a common ancestor way back when, but our actual evolutionary path became seperate from all the other living primates millennia ago. We didn't evolve from Chimps, we're related to them. It's this relationship though that gives us very similar bodies and brain structures that would allow them to evolve to fill our environmental niche should we somehow vanish from the Earth.

As for insects, if you're talking about simple numbers and survivability a vast majority of insect species will survive the same events as cockroaches and have done for eons. In terms of numbers and ability to survive insects have ruled the earth over humans throughout all of humanity's history. But we're talking about creatures that are likely to develop human-esque intelligence here from what I can understand. Insects and the like have tiny little bodies that can only hold tiny little brains. To even begins down a path like ours they would need to get hundreds of times bigger as well as develop significantly more complex brains and nervous systems. Not to mention they'd also need to develop a viable substitute for the human hand. Basically, if you're talking survivability, bugs already rule the Earth but if you're talking filling a similar niche to humans, they never will. There's just too many animals that are far closer to that level for bugs of any sort to ever reach it.

LegendChu April 13th, 2016 8:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gimmepie (Post 9201630)
We didn't "evolve" from the other primates in the sense you're thinking of. We are primates and share a common ancestor way back when, but our actual evolutionary path became seperate from all the other living primates millennia ago. We didn't evolve from Chimps, we're related to them. It's this relationship though that gives us very similar bodies and brain structures that would allow them to evolve to fill our environmental niche should we somehow vanish from the Earth.
As for insects, if you're talking about simple numbers and survivability a vast majority of insect species will survive the same events as cockroaches and have done for eons. In terms of numbers and ability to survive insects have ruled the earth over humans throughout all of humanity's history. But we're talking about creatures that are likely to develop human-esque intelligence here from what I can understand. Insects and the like have tiny little bodies that can only hold tiny little brains. To even begins down a path like ours they would need to get hundreds of times bigger as well as develop significantly more complex brains and nervous systems. Not to mention they'd also need to develop a viable substitute for the human hand. Basically, if you're talking survivability, bugs already rule the Earth but if you're talking filling a similar niche to humans, they never will. There's just too many animals that are far closer to that level for bugs of any sort to ever reach it.

Thank you for sharing all that knowledge Gimme I'm so humbled (has anyone told you that habit can be a bit irritating sometimes :P)

But seriously, we can make all the assumptions we want about who will be successors to the human race, if we were to actually go extinct. The truth though is as of now - none!

Pika Pika :chu:

gimmepie April 13th, 2016 8:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LegendChu (Post 9201972)
Thank you for sharing all that knowledge Gimme I'm so humbled (has anyone told you that habit can be a bit irritating sometimes :P)

It wasn't really that much lol, I'm no biologist. As for it being an "irritating habit", this section is literally the place on PC to let that habit loose, so I'm not going to feel perturbed if people don't like it. Deep conversation is what this part of the site is for.

Quote:

But seriously, we can make all the assumptions we want about who will be successors to the human race, if we were to actually go extinct. The truth though is as of now - none!

Pika Pika :chu:
If you don't want us making assumptions about your topic, don't make the topic? Besides, nobody is saying that these animals will evolve to fill our niche. We're theorising about animals that could should humanity go extinct without the planet going with us.


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