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What Would Go Extinct?
Topic Started: Nov 3 2016, 12:31 PM (3,427 Views)
Uncanny Gemstar
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Well I wouldn't say that poodles are necessarily doomed, at least the large size ones. They're working dogs, bred to swim in cold water, and are highly intelligent. Toy size and the small ones though are definitely not as fit though.
Though it is most likely they will just reintegrate with wolves and lose all that specialty in future generations.
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Shiny
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I don't think they're so likely to go extinct either.

Lots of breeds would vanish, but there are plenty of occurrences of feral dogs surviving on their own.

I mean: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Street_dogs_in_Moscow
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Mr.Scruth
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I would say that canid species, although possibly quite diverse among continents and biomes, would mostly reintegrate dogs back into the gene pool. The main locations where dogs(in any recognizably domestic form) would survive is in regions with no other canid species and a large, genetically diverse population of dogs. They would still adapt to a much more wolf-like form however, similar to dingoes.

What's more possible as a lasting genetic legacy of dogs is wolf-dog populations in the future occasionally displaying features such as a long coats, curly hair or larger ears. Such genetic vestiges most likely would be passive in nature, and simply occur as natural variations.
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Rodlox
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CaledonianWarrior96
Mar 27 2017, 10:51 AM
That's something I thought about; their ability to escape their enclosures. Like if their enclosures really were designed to prevent escape then it would be likely they would die within a few weeks. But I'm also taking into account zoos and other facilities with poor anti-escape structures and protocols. So I guess a better more refined question is that those that do escape (say, 20%), could they maintain a viable breeding population, especially given the massive area size the US has
also consider the sheer distance between the zoos which do have poor anti-escape measures...a tiger could die before breeding.
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Flisch
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As Sheather already said. If those enclosures were poorly secured, then the tigers would already have escaped.
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Beetleboy
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Yeah, I'm with Sheather and Flisch on this one. They'll probably die before they manage to escape (the animals, not Sheather and Flisch!)
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Nyarlathotep
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Now that you think about it, there is indeed no real way to get elephants or tigers roaming America bar some rewilding program. Which isn't impossible mind you, but it's a far cry from an extinction event- and if humans are around, it could get very sticky.
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Scrublord
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Shiny
Mar 28 2017, 07:08 PM
I don't think they're so likely to go extinct either.

Lots of breeds would vanish, but there are plenty of occurrences of feral dogs surviving on their own.

I mean: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Street_dogs_in_Moscow
That's what I said.
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Rodlox
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Flisch
Mar 30 2017, 06:18 AM
As Sheather already said. If those enclosures were poorly secured, then the tigers would already have escaped.
I wasn't aiming to contradict them - I was reinforcing their point.
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Mr.Scruth
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I'd say the most likely captive animals to successfully breed in North America and escape are, ironically, scimitar oryx and dama gazelles.

Both have relatively large populations numbering in the thousands(primarily in Texas), are kept in fenced ranches, already exist in large herds that are not too far spaced apart, and the Great Plains(as it re-wilds) are not very different from their native Sahel, especially when aquifers and irrigation fails.

Both are well suited to a semi-desert environment, and free-range game ranches have less secure enclosures than zoos. Some private texas ranches are large enough to sustain a herd trapped inside for months.
Edited by Mr.Scruth, Apr 1 2017, 02:11 AM.
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IIGSY
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If humans go extinct, what will happen to our household arthropod "pests"? It seems like a simple question, but of them are so specialized for living with humans, that they have no wild ranges (like the German cockroach).
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Flisch
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Depends on the pest in question but for many that live exclusively inside, the winters will probably make short work of them. Like you mentioned, the inhouse cockroaches are usually tropical species, so they'll die when the cold comes.

As for dust mites and silverfish, that's a more interesting story. Dust mites require warmth as far as I know, so they will probably die out in the northern hemisphere too (but not sure here), while silverfish are routinely found in cool places. Whether they can survive frost is still an open question though.

Edit: Nevertheless I doubt any of those pests will quite go extinct. House cockroaches will have their range reduced to the tropical areas as before, while mites and bed bugs continue living in bird and mammal nests and silverfish will go wherever they have been the last 400 million years. They all will have their numbers severely reduced though.
Edited by Flisch, Apr 15 2017, 03:25 AM.
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IIGSY
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Flisch
Apr 15 2017, 03:23 AM
Depends on the pest in question but for many that live exclusively inside, the winters will probably make short work of them. Like you mentioned, the inhouse cockroaches are usually tropical species, so they'll die when the cold comes.

As for dust mites and silverfish, that's a more interesting story. Dust mites require warmth as far as I know, so they will probably die out in the northern hemisphere too (but not sure here), while silverfish are routinely found in cool places. Whether they can survive frost is still an open question though.

Edit: Nevertheless I doubt any of those pests will quite go extinct. House cockroaches will have their range reduced to the tropical areas as before, while mites and bed bugs continue living in bird and mammal nests and silverfish will go wherever they have been the last 400 million years. They all will have their numbers severely reduced though.
The bedbugs we know are exclusive to humans and would die with us. Or would they? How likely would it be for human parasites to jump to other hosts? And i'm talking about both endo and ecto.
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Punga: A terraformed world with no vertebrates
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Nematozoic: After a mass extinction of ultimate proportions, a single species of nematode is the only surviving animal.
Tri-devonian: A devonian like ecosystem with holocene species on three different continents.

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Phylogeny of the arthropods and some related groups


In honor of the greatest clade of all time


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All African countries can fit into Brazil
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CaledonianWarrior96
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I've heard that human headlice could die out without humans to parasitise if we died out as well. I suppose if their biology was specific to suit humans as a host and transferring to another species would be difficult then they should become extinct
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CaledonianWarrior96
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What kind of animals would we expect to become apex predators in Australia if species like the dingo die out?
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