When we are gone..

[Anarius]

..who do you think will take over? What species will take our place, if any. Myself, I think birds have great potential. Some of them are quite intelligent, and some use tools. I don't think we would see more apemen. The chimps today live in the jungle, and are good at doing so.

[turtle]

Interesting question and a hard one to answer at that. It would depend greatly on many factors. How we go extinct would have to do with what kind of creature eventually took over. The planetary weather at the time, the geographical features of the earth and the condition of our atmosphere, among other things, all play a part in deciding who or what would become the dominant species.

Birds are a good guess, that's about what I'd guess to be the next most intelligent animal genus next to mammals. Reptiles are also a strong candidate for such guesses. They are one of the most environmentaly adaptive creatures on our planet, not the brightest of the bunch though.

Extraterrestrial species could also come and become the dominant species on the planet, even without our extinction.

Or maybe the plant life will take on a whole new stage of evolution, becoming animals themselves. That's a strange image... the whole planet covered by hostile, adaptive and intelligent plant life. Now that would be something strait out of a sci-fi book.

Or... the planet could turn into an acidic cauldron of toxic clouds and scoarched earth. Then nothing could really live here and evolve to a great extent.

[vizi]

I am all in favor of going out with a bang and basically wiping the place out. Kind like Biodome. But without Pauly Shore, no one wants him around.

[Heroic Heretic]

aliens will come and replace us! thats for sure

[vizi]

aliens will come and replace us! thats for sure

That is why we need to make earth uninhabitable. I don't want those aliens using my hot tub!

[Anachronist]

Age of fish>Age of reptiles>Age of mammals>Age of birds?

[vizi]

Actually birds got their shot with dinosaurs. They screwed that up. So they don't get a chance.

Cockroaches will rule the world. You cannot kill those buggers.

[Captain Arrrgh!]

Actually birds got their shot with dinosaurs. They screwed that up. So they don't get a chance.

Cockroaches will rule the world. You cannot kill those buggers.

Arrrrghhh!!! Espoocially those 'Scarface' wuns, tha wuns pernounced;
COCK-A-ROACHES. Dey be bad-arssed, indeed. Dat be da Captain's favoorite moovie, behind Riverdance an' Gigli.
Oi tinks dat we hoomans will completely ruin dis dar planet an' dar bugs will 'ave da best chance. Heck, dey survive in moi beard, an' in dar crack o' me bum, which be deeper dan dar San Andreaus faultline. So it be bugs, in moi oopinion.
Arrrrghh!!!

[Skyler]

Dolphins anyone? The dolphins should get the next chance, they will just have to spend quality time on evolution on landlife, ugh or just the plain old sea otters for world domination.

[Ummon]

Dolphins live underwater. No fire, underwater. No fire = no civilization.

[turtle]

Dolphins live underwater. No fire, underwater. No fire = no civilization.

Actually, if you think about it, this idea isn't very far fetched at all. The essence to life is water; maybe the creature to dominate would dominate water first, then air, then the planet. Maybe the next dominant species will be able to manipulate H2O... interesting prospect.:hmmm:

Like those creatures on "The Abyss", they could controle water, which would make a lot of sense if one were to dominate their surroundings and their environments, which would include other beings.

EDIT: Civilization isn't necessarily the only way to advance...

[Richard]

Plus, the way they're going (thanks to us), do you really think that DOLPHINS will outlive us?

[Kino]

I think our robots will eventually takeover.

[empty]

..who do you think will take over? What species will take our place, if any. Myself, I think birds have great potential. Some of them are quite intelligent, and some use tools. I don't think we would see more apemen. The chimps today live in the jungle, and are good at doing so.

I've heard of insects. The smaller animals have more probabilities of surviving... don't ask me why, but I'm sure I've heard this before... It feels like a deja-vu.

Birds are inteligent and good predators many of the times, but I don't know if they will survive much more than us.

[Lee1026]

Tools a lot more useful when you have the arms and legs to use them. Which is why the next is probably going to be some sort of ape.

[Banned]

We cannot envisage,not right now at least.About the cockroaches,I don't think they will survive after the demise of humans.They just have a natural tendency to withstand radiation at most 15 times the propensity of human beings.They can also hold their breath for 45 minutes which is quite abnormal fact for a creature.Further reading suggests that they usually die on their back,the position which hampers their muscle coordination,ultimately resulting in death.In addition,they have been around here for 300 million years,outliving the dinosaurs by about 150 million years.Moreover,you can put a cluster of cockroaches in a hot water tub,it won't affect them at all.After all,they are born in sewage and rot there in the severe environment where temperature variations are possible.Even after all this,they have no scope of being reputed for holding the accolade for 'the invincible creatures' which I think is suggested by some of you.The only point that favors them is their commendable resisting ability against nuclear holocaust,which does not account for much.

[Goatbuster3000]

If we die, I'd want to make sure nothing lived after us. So, I'd cripple the planet to the point that those cursed aliens can never use what we strived to create. That's a terrible view, I know

[Hells Bells]

Mutated mormons will ride giant cockroaches into battle against mexican chihuahua beasts

[MaximiIian]

..who do you think will take over? What species will take our place, if any. Myself, I think birds have great potential. Some of them are quite intelligent, and some use tools. I don't think we would see more apemen. The chimps today live in the jungle, and are good at doing so.

Depends on the circumstances. If it's a slower, more drawn-out extinction or an escape scenario from an increasingly hostile environment on Earth, I think something like what happens in The Future Is Wild would be quite likely, with the next civilized species evolving after another 500 million years of fierce change and development, and them being cephalopods.

However, if it's a quick, nuclear-doom type of extinction we go through, rather than a slow one, then arthropods would most likely become the more dominant group of animals, or at least the ones able to survive heavy radiation. Things like hymenopterids and cockroaches would dominate. Now, of those, hymenopterids have really great potential. After all, ants are the only animal besides humans to develop and engage in complex warfare, farming, architecture, bridgebuilding, use advanced battlefield tactics, develop a concept of slavery and total warfare, and create an advanced and politically united society. If they developed greater individual intelligence or if the atmosphere became more oxygen-rich (thus allowing insects to become individually larger), it is quite possible that they could overrun and become the dominant species of much of the earth.

[Time Commander Bob]

Homo Sapiens will be replaced by Homo Superior, much like old human beings but artificially genetically modified to be resistant to many diseases and will have robotic implants that will be put in at birth to enhance life-expectancy and intelligence.

If not that then I think that ants might have a chance if they somehow grow bigger and stronger. Perhaps a huge war between giant ants and humans will occur.