Ok, let's say tomorrow, The Rapture happens, every human is removed from earth, the terrain is moved back to how it would be without humans, and all buildings disappear. Animals stay around as they are now. Which ones would take our place as the intelligent species if it had to happen?

Edit: Alright, I might have misworded my question, I meant "what species other than primates are most capable of creating a human-like society, with tool-use, plant-domestication, and permanent structures, this is why I've been asking why about corvids and dolphins.

I have an idea of a doing speculative evolution focused short story as a final project for a class I’m in, the class focuses on exploring biology in film/text.

My idea is that of a planet that was terraformed into a planet wide farm or system of farms. Essentially being filled with domestic crops and livestock and other farm animals like farm cats and herding dogs, along with pest animals that stowed away like mice and rats. My idea is that something happened that caused the planet to be abandoned and thus all the formerly domestic life to become wild. The story would be millions of years after the planet’s abandonment.

I already have some ideas for life forms. I came up with the idea of horses that evolved into giraffe like forms browsing the tops of trees and alongside these would be other giants in the form of elephant like cattle. There would be a species descended from sheep dogs which now form a sort of pastoralist species who herd sheep and use them for food, the dogs having a basic form of sapience. There would be species of large lean cat hunting in trees from the trees attacking prey with enlarged fangs. Then there is my favorite idea, a species of gigantic bull-sized pig that has become an opportunistic omnivore eating anything it can find, fruit, leaves, carrion and even hunting game.

In terms of how the story is, I’m thinking of having it be from the perspective of an AI who without human masters to serve anymore, now spends its days observing and cataloging the species of this planet through a network of drones.

I just want some feedback on my idea and maybe some more ideas of things I could add.

Some time ago, I started a little project about the idea of dinosaurs surviving through the Cenozoic in an isolated environment. The choice was an imaginary microcontinent of Pacifida that broke off from Asia ~67 million years ago and somehow went K-Pg with its Mesozoic fauna surviving, albeit losing some diversity and eventually meeting new species from the outside world.

Pacifida is an elongated island, pretty similar to New Caledonia in shape, with the surface ranging from ~36.000 sq km to ~52.000 sq km with the current size being ~43.000 sq km. I didn’t want any other changes to the Earth’s geography, so tectonic movements are somehow nearly identical to our timeline. Pacifida is located slightly norther than Hawaii archipelago and has two neighbors with the surface sizes of ~800 sq km and ~2100 sq km. The largest island will be named Great Pacifida for the sake of convenience. I hope that the project will develop into something complete and diverse.

Do you guys think that (with some help of human genetic engineering) some species could change drastically within about 3000 years? I’m mainly asking for a story I’m writing, perhaps I’m just reaching tho.

I’m trying to design an Ichneumon (mythological mongoose-like creature that can kill a dragon).

I don’t want to ramble too much over an unfinished concept, but looking at how Mongoose’s will often try to kill snakes by biting down onto their heads or near to their head. The thing is, a mongoose’s mouth is wide enough to easily fit a snake’s entire head inside it, which isn’t the case for the Ichneumon I’m designing, who I want to actually be a little smaller than a dragon.

So I drew inspiration then from Jaguars and their method of killing Caiman by biting the back of their skulls and either killing their brain directly or paralyzing them and leaving them helpless. Drawing from this inspiration, it doesn’t matter how fat the dragon’s head is as long as the Ichneumon can fit its jaws either just at the rear of the skull or at least to where it can snap and dislocate the neck.

The only thing is, looking at Jaguar skulls and faces and comparing them to other large carnivores… I just don’t quite understand what it is morphologically that allows them such a powerful bite. Similarly Hyaena skulls provide little answer…

It almost looks like the Zygomatic arch is larger to allow more room for jaw muscles, or perhaps the skull is wider in comparison to other carnivores, but I really can’t tell if I’m just affirming bias, and maybe it isn’t a trait evident on skull shape alone.

To make this challange more interesting, I would suggest for you to try speculating how the classical "Carnivorous plant with a big, fleshy jaw", Akin to a certain mean green mother, Would come to exist or evolve, and how it would thrive enough to have a breeding population.

The Appalachian Wildcat (Felis catus appalachia) s a descendant of stray and feral cats that reside in the forests of the East Coast of America and surrounding areas. They resemble the European wildcat (Felis silvestris) of the early Holocene, but with more varied stripes and colors, with no two individuals being the exact same. Their coats tend to be tabby or striped in color, as this is the color that helped the survivors blend into the forests easier, although other color morphs are possible too, and full orange individuals have been seen not only surviving but thriving. Leucistic and melanistic individuals also exist, but only the melanistic cats have a chance to make it to adulthood due to their chance of blending in at night.

Wildcats communicate through a variety of vocalizations. Purring can happen when they are anxious or in pain, but they also happen when the cat is content, happy, or nursing kittens. When greeting eachother or playing, wildcats let out a series of chirps and trills. Growling, hissing, and snarling happen during confrontation.

Wildcats aren't the most social of animals, but when food is readily available for everyone, these cats will congragate in colonies of two to fifteen individuals and their kittens. Unlike lions, wildcats will hunt on their own terms regardless of gender and both male and female will defend their territories from nomadic cats, yowling and caterwauling to let everyone know who's in town.

Queens can have one or two litters a year with five maximum at a time, with four to six kittens fathered by multiple tomcats. Kittens are blind, deaf, and nurse for about four weeks until their eyes and ears open and they are able to walk. From five to eight weeks they are insatiably curious and playful, pouncing on eachother and anything that moves. Kittens are brought food by their mother, who indirectly teach them what they can and cannot eat. Kittens learn how to hunt by copying their mothers.

Wildcats are cathemeral animals and prey on small birds and mammals, as well as rabbits and squirrels, although they also chew on grass and other plants for aid in digestion and for vitamins and minerals. While cats are considered an invasive species in the early Holocene, they have since filled a niche similar to old world servals and caracals, being a smaller feline existing alongside larger animals, in their case the puma.

Because of their small size, wild cats are both predator and prey. Kittens and adults alike are vulnerable to attacks from birds of prey, coyotes, foxes, raccoons, bears, and wild hounds.

Recently, I was thinking about how the ivory industry has created an extremely direct selective pressure for elephants to evolve a lack of tusks, something that we’ve already seen begin to happen in our lifetime. This got me thinking about other animals that human activity has created accidental selective pressure on, specifically ones we think of as too large for rapid evolution. You could make the assumption that rhinos being poached for their horns might go a similar route to the elephants (although I think this is a lot less likely), but what about animals that cannot survive without the parts they are trafficked for? The sharkfin soup trade leads to the deaths of millions upon millions of sharks per year, but they can’t very well evolve to not have fins. Presuming that they don’t go extinct outright, what adaptations might sharks and other large poaching victims develop on a short timescale?

The zettas are an advanced and peaceful alien civilization they live on their planet reticulio the evolved from an octopus like species they have 2 tall lanky legs and an saucer shaped head with 3 rectangular shaped insect like eyes the females have green eyes and in the end of their tentacle theirs an 4 pointed star shaped opening that the females use to lay their caviar shaped and sized eggs under their heads theirs an pointed sphere shaped limb thats used to communicate with bioluminescence that creates an slightly high pitched humming sound they live in villages that are reminiscent of bruge Europe even with water roads but more fancy and they have an single tentacle thats actually their phallus (dont worry it’s covered up) that they use as an hand and the zettas have different shaped white spots in their head to tell which one is which

I'm a kid new in the Spec Evo community making a spec evo project for Dinovember, the project is where a huge island portion who survived from the Early Jurassic till Late Cretaceous which means the dinosaurs living in the island are from the Early Jurassic and Late Cretaceous which makes the dinosaurs having to evolve to survive. I need help to see if what I made is realistic (?)

A very fluffy, wintry white bat. During raging, howling winds it will dig its feet to hang upside-down from any object and spread its wings. The inside of these wings is covered in a very slimy substance that will collect debris and bugs caught in the storm. Once they've collected enough material, they will fold their wings back in and eat what they caught with their head burrowed. Their furry wings are very sturdy and endure much more than the wings of their cousins, and they provide extra heat during the harsh cold weather. While the blizzards blow past, they keep their eyes closed and their ears furl in, and they bend their necks "backward", essentially nestling their heads onto their backs away from the worst of the storms. They may poke their heads out from time to time to sense whether there is any prey to be caught

It holds on very easily because it has an extremely strong grip, owed to the musculature of its feet and flexibility of its tendons.

During warmer seasons, it becomes a scavenger-forager and is often found hunting on the ground.

It cannot fly but it is a skilled climber. There are unverified stories of it gliding down but it has been seen to climb up trees and cliffs and glaciers. It is the largest extant bat.

Like its cousins, it is blind. Its ears are smaller and there several chambers and "clasps" around and inside its ear system. This prevents its hearing capabilities from being blown out during blizzards and allows it isolate and manipulate sounds

It's truly remarkable evolutionary point is its point of divergence in the abilities of smell. The pamaw has a few new receptors in its nose that "smell" heat. According to folklore, it can predict bad storms.

In nearby cultures it is often a symbol of endurance and patience. There are indigenous winter solstice customs that celebrate the Pamaw 

Is it possible to domesticate marine life and how domestication effects their evolution? EX: tuna, baitfish, phytoplankton, and other species?

E se os humanos do futuro utilizassem a engenharia genética para criar o animal de estimação perfeito,facil de cuidar,vive por muito tempo e resistente as condições adversas

- This seed world involves some magical aspects, however that is mainly unrelated to the topic as I'm trying to understand what animals I should put where in my seed world project, as I'm a highly indecisive person. Every idea i come up with just doesn't sit right in my head so I thought i'd get information from the experts.

- The story involves the idea of "concepts" as the multiverse was destroyed and reborn by a being who fixed it into a singular universe known as the greater domain. All life in the domain originates from earth, and was placed onto the world before the humans were reintroduced giving creatures time to evolve uninterrupted.

- My goal for my seed world is take generic fantasy and mix it with speculative evolution, and scientific accuracy, even if I have the stereotypical fantasy creatures, i still need to fill out the ecosystems of the continents within the world, and I wish to balance these out rather than basing said ecosystems around these creatures due to them all evolving together.

- The information on these continents also involves as the concept as the biomes, were meshed into each barren continent on the planets surface and molded themselves overtime. Although some of these biomes manifest in different places, each biome is more often than not known for taking over the majority of a continent. (I'm still making it as accurate as possible so not all of the continents are purely one biome)

- I was just wondering if their are any methods, guides, or information to help get past my stubborn nature, figure out where the creatures of the old world should be placed. Which is why I'm asking you, so if you'd be so kind as to help me that would be much appreciated.

Alright here are my plants and animals:

Mammals:

Domestic Horse

Domestic Pig

Domestic Dog (Male and Female clones of my dog Ewoks)

Domestic Cat

House Mouse

Roof Rat

Rabbit

Invertebrates:

Cellar Spider

Orb Weaver Spider

Microsnails

Garden Snails

Clicking Beetles

Cockroach

Coconut Rhinoceros Beetles

Grasshoppers

Fire Ants

Blue Crab

Shrimp

Squid

Earthworm

Fish:

Molly fish

Goldfish

Nile Tilapia

Catfish

Milkfish

Atlantic Salmon

Bluefin Tuna

Sardines

Birds:

Domestic Chicken

Eurasian Tree Sparrow

Rock Dove

Peacock

Cassowary

Reptiles:

Philippine Crocodile

Galapagos Tortoise

Common House Gecko

Common Garden Skink

Amphibians:

Cane Toad

Edible Chinese Frog

Plants:

Rice

Tomato

Wheat

Squash

Nara Trees

Blueberry

Strawberry

Snake Plants

Basil

Cabbage

Water Spinach

Mirliton

Chilli

Lettuce

Peppercorn

Onion

And the biogeography will consist of a large continental mainland in an ice age, along with multiple archipelagos with large islands(about the size of madagascar) scattered around the ocean at the opposite of the large continent.

Like my understanding is super contingent periods tend to be pretty hot because more land is absorbing heat with no sea breeze bringing rain. if you dry up the Mediterranean Africa and Eurasia become one gigantic mass of land.