If homo sapiens sapiens had never evolved, which would be the dominate species now?
Alternatively if homo sapiens sapiens were to be wiped out over night by a virulent disease restricted to us, who or what would become the top species?

bob(from black rock) said:

If homo sapiens sapiens had never evolved, which would be the dominate species now?
Alternatively if homo sapiens sapiens were to be wiped out over night by a virulent disease restricted to us, who or what would become the top species?

giant ants

If homo sapiens sapiens had never evolved, which would be the dominate species now?

we have no way of knowing.

bob(from black rock) said:

If homo sapiens sapiens had never evolved, which would be the dominate species now?
Alternatively if homo sapiens sapiens were to be wiped out over night by a virulent disease restricted to us, who or what would become the top species?

if homo sapiens sapiens were wiped out… a few of my regular customers would still be around…

(doubtful they’d be classed as a dominant species tho)

I very much doubt there would be a top species. There would be top predators, but these would be confined to geographic regions.

Realistically, Humans have only influenced evolution on this planet for about 50k years. in the terms of the Earth’s biosphere, that’s a bees dick in time.

wookiemeister said:

bob(from black rock) said:

If homo sapiens sapiens had never evolved, which would be the dominate species now?
Alternatively if homo sapiens sapiens were to be wiped out over night by a virulent disease restricted to us, who or what would become the top species?

giant ants

wookie, how big? the size of a cow? a dog? a rat? or a cricket?

Alternatively if homo sapiens sapiens were to be wiped out over night by a virulent disease restricted to us, who or what would become the top species?

we have no way of knowing. one reason is that we wouldn’t be here to see. but that is a trivial point.

:-)

Are we the dominant species? We aint been here long. If you are judging by the way we are able to manipulate and change the environment we would be dominant.

It may be that it never happens, nature keeps chugging along and nothing arises with the same ability to manipulate its environment. We might be a bit of an oddball and a result of unique circumstances. Most other seem happy to explot a niche and stay there whilst it exists.

Stumpy_seahorse said:

bob(from black rock) said:

If homo sapiens sapiens had never evolved, which would be the dominate species now?
Alternatively if homo sapiens sapiens were to be wiped out over night by a virulent disease restricted to us, who or what would become the top species?

if homo sapiens sapiens were wiped out… a few of my regular customers would still be around…

(doubtful they’d be classed as a dominant species tho)

good one Stumpy, just don’t show ‘em this post.

bob(from black rock) said:

wookiemeister said:

bob(from black rock) said:

If homo sapiens sapiens had never evolved, which would be the dominate species now?
Alternatively if homo sapiens sapiens were to be wiped out over night by a virulent disease restricted to us, who or what would become the top species?

giant ants

wookie, how big? the size of a cow? a dog? a rat? or a cricket?

well i would say at least the size of a man

there would be the queen, she would be in charge of programming on the television with 24 hour reruns of “escape to the country nest” and “tunnels of the rich of the rich and famous”.

bob(from black rock) said:

Stumpy_seahorse said:

bob(from black rock) said:

If homo sapiens sapiens had never evolved, which would be the dominate species now?
Alternatively if homo sapiens sapiens were to be wiped out over night by a virulent disease restricted to us, who or what would become the top species?

if homo sapiens sapiens were wiped out… a few of my regular customers would still be around…

(doubtful they’d be classed as a dominant species tho)

good one Stumpy, just don’t show ‘em this post.

meh, not like any of ‘em can read…

:P

Skunkworks said:

Are we the dominant species? We aint been here long. If you are judging by the way we are able to manipulate and change the environment we would be dominant.

It may be that it never happens, nature keeps chugging along and nothing arises with the same ability to manipulate its environment. We might be a bit of an oddball and a result of unique circumstances. Most other seem happy to explot a niche and stay there whilst it exists.

Us too. That’s all we are doing too: exploiting a niche while it’s there.

we exploit a very large and varied niche. probably the most varied. that counts for a lot

Boris said:

we exploit a very large and varied niche. probably the most varied. that counts for a lot

Yes but will we reach the average life expectancy of a species before going extinct? or will we follow BC’s instruction and spread ourselves across space?

I’d say the answer is whatever species is currently #2.

Stumpy_seahorse said:

if homo sapiens sapiens were wiped out… a few of my regular customers would still be around…

Harsh.

:-)