[DesuMaiden]

Watch this short movie/documentary to find out!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUqHECc5rPo

This is what would happen to the world if there were zero people on it. I found this video pretty interesting. What I find surprisingly is how fast all evidence of our existence would be wiped off from the face of the world. Of course, there is no way all 7 billion of us would magically disappear from this planet. But this video is about what might happen if all seven billion of us were to magically disappear from the planet. It would be a certainly very interesting scenario.

[DesuMaiden]

If there were zero people than some other animal (a jellyfish perhaps. Or maybe a snail) would somehow mutate, adapt, takeover, overshoot and die off. Just like us.

Indeed that might be the case.

[Lore]

There is no guarantee that there would have been or ever will be a replacement for the level of human intelligence among any other creatures. Evolution is a long process which hands out superior attributes more rarely than a mega lotto.

[dolanbaker]

Rodents are the most likely successor due to their ability to quickly adapt to a changing environment and the fact that they can "breed like rabbits!". Their populations would explode due to the lack of predators and quickly overpopulate and crash.

[vtsnowedin]

Rodents are the most likely successor due to their ability to quickly adapt to a changing environment and the fact that they can "breed like rabbits!". Their populations would explode due to the lack of predators and quickly overpopulate and crash.

Why would there be a lack of predators?
I would expect one of the African apes to eventually evolve into a human substitute over a million years or so. The opposing thumbs and current brain size and problem solving ability give them a head start over any other species.
In the meantime the plains of Africa would fill to capacity with everything from Elephant to Dikidiki and all the predators would have plenty to eat.
In the Americas buffalo and elk would compete with wild cattle and horses all kept in check by wolves, coyotes and mountain lions.

[Lore]

I would expect one of the African apes to eventually evolve into a human substitute over a million years or so. The opposing thumbs and current brain size and problem solving ability give them a head start over any other species.
In the meantime the plains of Africa would fill to capacity with everything from Elephant to Dikidiki and all the predators would have plenty to eat.
In the Americas buffalo and elk would compete with wild cattle and horses all kept in check by wolves, coyotes and mountain lions.

Why would you expect that? In millions of years of evolution there is only one of us and apes are still apes. The capacitance for higher reason that makes humans different isn't a benifit that's just handed out over time. Alligators for instance are much the same as they were 150 million years ago.

[dolanbaker]

Rodents are the most likely successor due to their ability to quickly adapt to a changing environment and the fact that they can "breed like rabbits!". Their populations would explode due to the lack of predators and quickly overpopulate and crash.

Why would there be a lack of predators?
I would expect one of the African apes to eventually evolve into a human substitute over a million years or so. The opposing thumbs and current brain size and problem solving ability give them a head start over any other species.
In the meantime the plains of Africa would fill to capacity with everything from Elephant to Dikidiki and all the predators would have plenty to eat.
In the Americas buffalo and elk would compete with wild cattle and horses all kept in check by wolves, coyotes and mountain lions.

In many parts of the world, predators would have competed with humans and so have been almost eliminated. The rodent population explosion will be so rapid that no predator would be able to eat that much rodent. It is often said that there is one Rat per human but only about one fox per 1000 and foxes breed slower. Cats would do well but even they will be out stripped by the explosion in mice.

It would probably take a couple of decades for the predator/prey balance to be restored.

As for "future humans" you could be right.

[vtsnowedin]

Why would you expect that? In millions of years of evolution there is only one of us and apes are still apes. The capacitance for higher reason that makes humans different isn't a benifit that's just handed out over time. Alligators for instance are much the same as they were 150 million years ago.

There is no guarantee of course. Evolution doesn't have a master plan other then survival and all the ape species might just continue on as is in a world devoid of humans. But when a hole in an ecosystem is created it tends to get filled by the next available species. In New England for example the Grey wolf was hunted to extinction to protect sheep flocks. After the decline in sheep raising the much smaller coyotes moved into the area from the west. There small size was a hindrance in New England's winter snows and they quickly evolved into a larger and more wolf like subspecies.
With humans removed from Africa I would expect one of the ape species ,most likely the Gibbons to take up the position of top predator on the plains and they would face the same evolutionary pressures that our human ancestors did and the most human like would become the survivors for generations.

[Lore]

I agree that there will always be a top preditor as we move on down the chain. However, at our present rate of vertebrate extinction that may be pretty low on the ladder.

[dorlomin]

Stoats and weasels are mouse predators. They can breed fast. There will be a brief surge is some populations as they go through human food stores, but once they are exhausted, you will get a natural die back.

[dorlomin]

With humans removed from Africa I would expect one of the ape species ,most likely the Gibbons to take up the position of top predator on the plains

How will gibbons get to Africa?
And top predator is the lion.

[vtsnowedin]

Rodents are the most likely successor......
..........coyotes and mountain lions.

In many parts of the world, predators would have competed with humans and so have been almost eliminated. The rodent population explosion will be so rapid that no predator would be able to eat that much rodent. It is often said that there is one Rat per human but only about one fox per 1000 and foxes breed slower. Cats would do well but even they will be out stripped by the explosion in mice.

It would probably take a couple of decades for the predator/prey balance to be restored.

As for "future humans" you could be right.

I have more faith in the ability of the predator populations to adjust and keep up. Wild dogs, hyenas , dingos, lions, leopards ,cheetahs, owls, falcons,eagles and vultures would all have their shot and would most likely be in balance before the second boom and bust cycle of the rodent population occurred. Perhaps five to seven years of non human interference for things to get back to normal.

[vtsnowedin]

With humans removed from Africa I would expect one of the ape species ,most likely the Gibbons to take up the position of top predator on the plains

How will gibbons get to Africa?
And top predator is the lion.

Swing from tree to tree across India then walk. I was thinking of a ape closely related to the chimps. Pulled the wrong name from my increasingly creaky memory.
Man is the top predator at present.
Aha! here is the one the Bonobo.
http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/w ... nobo-love/

[Lore]

Raises an interesting question. If a super virus ends humans, would that virus then be considered top predator having toppled number one?

[vtsnowedin]

Raises an interesting question. If a super virus ends humans, would that virus then be considered top predator having toppled number one?

I suppose it would but there would be nobody left to care.

[SeaGypsy]

No. A virus or bacteria which kills its host with 100% efficacy is a genetic mistake. Herpes is close to a perfect virus.

[dorlomin]

With humans removed from Africa I would expect one of the ape species ,most likely the Gibbons to take up the position of top predator on the plains

How will gibbons get to Africa?
And top predator is the lion.

Swing from tree to tree across India then walk. I was thinking of a ape closely related to the chimps. Pulled the wrong name from my increasingly creaky memory.
Man is the top predator at present.
Aha! here is the one the Bonobo.
http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/w ... nobo-love/

It took about 5 million years to get from a common anscetor to Homo Habilis. In that time what became Homo developed bipedalsim and what became Pan (chimps and bonobos) specialised in knuckle walking. In Africa sapiens is unlikely to have become top predator until the invention of metal and until Homo Ergaster Homo was likely to be a prey species. There will unlikely be much of a man shaped hole in Africa and it would be millions of years and some unlikely rerunning of a very ideosyncratic evolution before any new upright primates arrived.

In Eurasia\The Americas\Australasia there will be big predator niches to fill, the ones humans wiped out.

[vtsnowedin]

In Eurasia\The Americas\Australasia there will be big predator niches to fill, the ones humans wiped out.

Most of the American predators still exist in reduced numbers. They would quickly grow in population if human hunting pressure was removed. The wolves in Yellowstone park being the trial case.
I would expect feral dogs to fill the gaps in Europe and Australia.
edit to add video clip.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-n8Q1cNr0OA