what animal do you think would evolve sentience first if humans died out?

Question

animals like:octopi, dolphins, gray parrots, monkeys, etc

Answer 1

Maybe dolphins. They're already sentient- they have names for each other, and language.

Answer 2

if it was just humans then the dalphin the crow/some birds and the wolves. their is some type of cackatoo that has been recorded to do times tables (only some) and is said to hold a brain of a six year old.

now as far as changing thair envirnment there are animals that do just not in a big way like humans. beavers, birds, ants, and much more. they would not change their envirnment to the point of desroying the earth. all animals would other wise be content with there lives and would really not care as long as they lived.

lots of people say this and that just because they like a serten animal I say NO it can be multiple animals for every type of liveing style. (water, land air ect) people have said chimps because they make toold but they don't think that birds are making tools from twigs to get food out of small pleaces and to attack other birds as in body excreations and rocks. some of this is not just in the movies but has an oragin to it.

the last thing I want to say is off the subject but somthing that killed humans would most likly kill of a lot of animals too. so there is always the pisiblety of cockroches. but I don't think so. and if you have saw a show called the future is wild on animal planet (you can get the movie too0 that tells of what could haappen 1728300000000000000 years from now if the humans and others died and the earth servived. but I don't think so ether.

if you talk the time tool take a good look at these sites you will see what I mean

Answer 3

I see no reason to expect that other life forms would necessarily become as "self-aware" and with the tool use abilities we have. Obviously, during the age of reptiles on earth there was no such "need". The problem is that evolution does not work that way. If there is a strong enough selection pressure and enough time, maybe it would happen, but there is no "reason" that it would. Life does not require that there be a species capable of contemplating all the goofy things we contemplate and evolution does not work in any kind of linear fashion nor purposeful fashion (which is what is elegant about evolution...chance and necessity!). The animals you mention have no such needs in their current ecological niches. But of course, they would be entirely new species anyway. All come and go. In fact, there were other species of humans that died out in competition with ours (Neanderthals, etc.).
I would argue that if we are to ever go extinct it would probably be the "fault" of our overly-contemplative brains. I am not so sure it is quite the adaptive trait we all imagine it to be.

Answer 4

A very interesting question, but very difficult to answer. It would seem that one of our closest relatives, either the chimpanzee or the bonobo, would be most able to occupy our niche. However, they are both endangered, and wild populations are becoming more and more isolated from one another. This is suppressing the genetic diversity that is essential for natural selection to take place. On the other hand, perhaps they would be able to make a quick recovery if our species were removed. It's really hard to say!

Answer 5

I would imagine that if the human race were to die out, the majority of other species would die as well. Animals must deal with their environment they have no real ability to change it like we can ours. This is evidenced by species that are currently dieing out, they are unable to adapt to change in their environments and are subsequently going extinct.

The only way I see humans dieing out and not the animals is if an incurable disease that affects humans and no other animals takes over and kills us. Many will argue that it is the human race that causes the extinction of animals and that there are currently diseases that may wipe out the human race and still others that don't believe that animals evolved in the first place.

Life is an amazing thing, I say we learn to love it and live it well because we won't be here forever.

Answer 6

Rats would take over the world. They eat anything. Live in packs, anywhere. Survive radiation better, are highly reproductive, so can adapt quickly as a species in adverse conditions. It would not take long before they dominated everything. As to sentience, perhaps you mean intelligent self awareness. They would survive as best they could, probably without having to become more intelligent. Remember, the dinosaurs survived for much longer than we ever will, without the need for computers.

Answer 7

The chimpanzee in my opinion would evolve into a intelligent creature. With a thumb opposed to his fingers such as man, he would be capable of most tasks such as tools and weapon making to defend himself from other predators. It would take maybe six hundred thousand to a million years of evolution before he took his place behind man but he's the one I'd put my money on! Have a good day.

Answer 8

I would say monkeys or gorillas, I can't see dolphins evolving out of the sea although they have high intelligence.

Answer 9

Snakes.

Answer 10

I think the fact that they HAVENT built malls or created governments proves they are ALREADY more sentient than we are...:)

Oh...and Jim=Biologist.....Evolution does not eliminate any and all current species. EXTINCTION does. (Ya might want to recheck your notes...)