• Question: Hypothetically speaking, if a pandemic wiped out the human race, which specoes would evolve fastest and become the dominant life form? Would any species evolve and recreate the technology we humans produced?

    Asked by christiancox to Fiona, Joanna, Michelle, William on 23 Jun 2010 in Categories: .
    • Photo: William Davies

      William Davies answered on 23 Jun 2010:

      Good question! If you mean the dominant life-form in terms of biomass, it would probably be some sort of insect or plant. In terms of conquering the planet, it’d probably be one of the great apes (chimpanzees?) who have higher brain functions and opposable thumbs (two key evolutionary processes which led to humans being dominant). It’s certainly possible that after a few million years, this new dominant species might evolve to develop technologies like we’ve got currently

    • Photo: Fiona Randall

      Fiona Randall answered on 23 Jun 2010:

      I really don’t know. Maybe a species of great ape… but they would probably evolve to be different and make different technologies depending on why.how they evolved.

    • Photo: Joanna Brooks

      Joanna Brooks answered on 23 Jun 2010:

      Hello! I really like films that explore this question like The Road and I Am Legend. It’s possible that some sort of insect would survive and eventually evolve but it would take another million years to recreate what we have now on planet earth with insects.

      What is probably more likely is that someone somewhere would survive – we are so evolved now even in the case of a virus, a nano-disaster, or a biological disaster someone somewhere would survive! Then the human race would probably build up again but very slowly.

      BTW did you do the quiz to find out what sex your brain is?
      http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/sex/add_user.shtml

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