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Without Man; The Alternative Zoology of the Future
Topic Started: Aug 5 2008, 11:24 AM (5,117 Views)
Reedstilt
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This is a project I've been considering for a while, but haven't really started up yet. Figured it might be interesting to collaborates with some other speculative biologists on this one.

The premise is humans never evolved. Turning the dial back to Australopithecus, we replay the last four million years and project a bit into the future as well (not sure how far yet; we can collectively decide on that.) Australopithecus can give rise to other genera, but Intelligence of our caliber never evolves, at least not right way. Our end game might be the advent of a different intelligent lifeform on earth.

The main point of the project is to imagine an alternative world where the changes humans have caused to the environment and the extinctions exacerbated by human activity never happened, and project that world into the future.

So who wants to play?
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Knnoar
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This is interesting, very interesting to tell you the truth. If we are looking into a life without humans, as well as a future of a life without humans, then we can assume that many extinctions wouldn't happen, while many creatures wouldn't appear. Cats will not be domesticated, neither would wolves, so no domesticated cats or dogs. Dodo's would probably survive into the future of life with no humans, since humans put them into extinction in the past; in other words if there where no humans they would have survived. They could become giant versions, but depends how far into the future you want to go.
Edited by Knnoar, Aug 5 2008, 01:39 PM.
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Reedstilt
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Dodos are a great example of what we have to work with. Of course there are limitations as well. Dodos lived on small tropical islands in the Indian Ocean. Being flightless and terrestrial, as they were, they couldn't really colonize new islands. The islands impose restrictions on the Dodos, keeping them at a manageable size, and as erosion kicks in, these islands will continuously be getting smaller and smaller. So, in my opinion, depending on how far into the future this gets projected, the most likely habitat for surviving dodos (if they manage to survive at all) might be some marine form, probably using its legs for propulsion rather than its wings. Perhaps something like an avian walrus. It's a little out-there though.
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Carlos
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I think a better candidate for an avian walrus would most likely be a descendent of the great auk though.
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Reedstilt
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The auk might do, though it would in direct competition with actual walruses. Though walruses in general were declining before humans showed up, so its possible either we'll be leave with one highly specialized walrus in Arctic Ocean (in which case, eliminating the need for an avian walrus) or no walruses at all, opening up that niche to other organisms. All things being equal a mammal would probably grab it up first -- and honestly, I'm not sure about the abundance of shellfish in tropical waters so that niche might not be available for the dodo anyhow.
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Saxophlutist
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It would be interesting to see this scenario. It is especially unique in that homonids are neither extinct, nor have a huge impact on the environment. It would be neat to see the non-sapient homonid's new evolutionary history.
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Cynovolans
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I could think of a few things that would happen, or not have happened. Maybe the giant birds of New Zealand would still survive. Tigers may eventually have populated Europe and Africa, Cheetahs would still be in India, and the North African Elephants may still be alive. The Thylacine would still probably be alive, for it would not have competition with dingoes.
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Saxophlutist
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I would be very interested to see what New Zealand would end up like without all of those meddling mammals. ;)
Ratite diversification would be neat. And then there's Haast's Eagle.
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Giant Blue Anteater
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Don't forget that there were also tortoises on the island of Mauritius (Cylindraspis inepta and Cylindraspis triserrata). If those darn humans who killed them in the first place never existed, who knows what they could evolve into. But one thing though is that they will not become very big, like the toraton, but they were pretty large. There was also a species of tortoise (Cylindraspis vosmaeri) on Rodrigues.
Edited by Giant Blue Anteater, Aug 6 2008, 05:39 PM.
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truteal
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Ice age megabeasts would still be around, and I think dodos would shrink to compete with erosion of their island home instead of taking to the water.
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lamna
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I am not sure about that. There is no mammoth steppe anymore, or very little anyway. The actual steppes are far too hot for animals like woolly rhinos and mammoths, and the Tundra is very poor in nutrients.

Perhaps they would cling on to life here and there, but they would not be thriving.
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Reedstilt
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While the Ice Age species that are especially adapted cold climates, such as the Wooly Mammoth, would certain be in decline during the Interglacials, it should probably survive this interglacial as it had previous ones. If nothing else, they could simple shed some fur to cope with warmer temperatures. That shouldn't be much of an evolutionary leap for them.

In warmer climates, a lot of the megafauna should probably still be around. Maybe we should start coordinating that: determine what Ice Age megafauna we still want around when the Pleistocene-Holocene Extinctions don't happen.
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Carlos
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Mammoths would live very well today if men didn't evolved. There were pygmy mammoths living in islands as recently as 1700 B.C.
Lemuria:
http://s1.zetaboards.com/Conceptual_Evolution/topic/5724950/

Terra Alternativa:
http://s1.zetaboards.com/Conceptual_Evolution/forum/460637/

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SIngemeister
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What about the Cave bears? I think Smilodon may also have survived, they were around at that time.
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Carlos
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Indeed; after all, they've been through 32 interglacials periods
Lemuria:
http://s1.zetaboards.com/Conceptual_Evolution/topic/5724950/

Terra Alternativa:
http://s1.zetaboards.com/Conceptual_Evolution/forum/460637/

My Patreon:

https://www.patreon.com/Carliro

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