Any species that could succeed humanity?

O

Octagon

First time out of the vault
When I say this, I mean a species that would begin their civilization, their world, in the event of all the humans dying out, or said species destroying them. Humans themselves got their big break all because of a cataclysmic event that eliminated the many species that ruled the earth before them. Now, we've got arguably an even more cataclysmic event, so why shouldn't another species eclipse the humans? Candidates for a new dominant life form could be:
1. Super mutants/Nightkin. Hopefully with a better FEV strain that makes them all as smart as The Lieutenant, gets rid of the sterility and works fine on dirty irradiated wastelanders. In the case of the perfect super mutant like Lou, they're bigger, stronger, tougher, faster AND smarter.
2. Deathclaws. We've seen evidence that deathclaws are a lot smarter than they let on, and in the case of the Vault 13 deathclaws, they are literally just as intelligent as us. And I don't think many will argue when I say they're the most dangerous species in the wasteland thus far. Perfect for world domination. And yes, I know Chris Avellone has said all the intelligent deathclaws died, but I really don't think it'd be hard to find a way around it.
3. Mirelurk kings. Who knows? Those guys look suspiciously intelligent.
4. Radroaches...? Or Mantises. People are always saying that cockroaches would be the only species to survive a nuclear apocalypse, and they seem to be thriving everywhere. And with mantises, according to some Van Buren lore I believe, they mention that mantises blanket the ground around Salt Lake City. Lots of power, lots of reproduction, lots of generations evolving constantly.
5. Tunnelers. This is a big one. They're seemingly relatively intelligent, they're tough as hell, and there are hordes of them. Ulysses says they rip apart deathclaws, and he also seems to think the entire Mojave is doomed to be overrun by these guys. Ulysses seems pretty intelligent and worldly, so even if he isn't 100% correct, I'm inclined to think that there is some truth in what he's saying.

These are just the ones I can think of, if you can think of any others tell me, I'm sure I forgot some. Would you be happy with any of these eclipsing the human race, maybe not in any future game, but within the lore? Do you think any of them could? Lemme know.
EDIT: I intentionally left ghouls out, in case you were wondering. I really don't see them having much of a future, because they can't reproduce, they go feral, and they're really just rotting humans. Their only adaptation that gives them an edge over humans is their radiation resistance, and there's really more places that aren't irradiated than are. NCR and Legion built mighty empires out of empty, non-irradiated wilderness, and what have ghouls done? Built great civilizations out of toxic ruins? Nope, they just hang around humans, because they still act and at their core, are humans. New dominant species of homo decrepitus? Don't think so.
 
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Supermutants and ghouls are human :sad:
and ghouls are living well in Gecko.

I think any intellectual being can succeed human.
even dogs, toasters, etc can do with technology of Big MT.


by the way, in Korea, pigeons learn how to use subway :lol:
 
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I don't think a toaster civilization would thrive as long as the toaster from the sink is still alive.

I think the Calculator's army, if they had won the war agains't the midwest brotherhood would have been the dominant species on earth.
 
The Ethereal Ones... oh... wrong game. Err... The Dark Ones... still wrong dammit. Molerats, highly intelligent molerats.
 
Little Lamplight children ?
Infinite magic resupply of new children, unability to die during 16 years, unability to be noticed or injuried by super-mutants & wildlife, no need for other food than cave mushroom. They are the next step of the Evolution.
 
From a boring scientific point of view, the odds of a human-like intelligence on earth is:

[the ammount of species as intelligent as humans] to [the ammount of biological species of living things ever to have existed on this planet]

so
1 / 1 000 000 000 000 000 000 or something

in other words, when we are gone, chances are nothing will ever replace us. Ever

Booo! What a party pooper!
 
Korin said:
No but seriously guys... crows:
http://www.cracked.com/article_19042_6-terrifying-ways-crows-are-way-smarter-than-you-think.html
Click to expand...

I adore corvids.
A friend of mine is only beginning to discover how intelligent they are, after I encouraged him to.

Something many people rarely consider is that say Monday you see a crow, then Tuesday you see a crow - this is probably the same crow, if it hangs around the neighborhood. Or it is one of a little collection of local crows, my point is, people dismiss them as a new crow every day/do not think about it at all.

Notice how magpies often move around in groups of 2-3? I always make a lil noise when I pass them. I want them to get used to this - that whenever everyone else passes, they are usually ignored, but when I pass, I will look right at them, and make a weird lil noise. Obviously, they get distracted by this, and stare back "wtf was that!?" and I like that. Whatever it was - it was a connection.

So my friend is doing this, as well as flying a little toy bird around, that REALLY gets their interest. Lately he has discovered that whenever he goes out into the yard, and the magpies are there, they will make a call. He assumes it is either a call between themselves "Ooo! The guy with the fake-bird is here!" or it is a greeting to him.
And before anyone suspects this of sounding silly - they do indeed conspire! Crows can even communicate a past event - in another place - "Me find food - yesterday - way over there!", so it is not unthinkable at all that they might actually small-talk about him and his curious toy bird.
He says his dad compleeetely dismisses it "Pfff they're just making noises! Instinct-noises!" which is of course the expected arrogant thing to say.

The way I, personally, regard magpie-chitter, is kindov the way a toddler will repeat stuff, "I want ham! Ham! I want haaam! =) HAM?" in the sense that, no, magpie-talk is not all that complex, but it DOES carry a tangible message, that they will then repeat in a sortof half-retarded manner - but still incredibly sophisticated compared to most other animals.

One fun example of magpie brilliance (and before anyone goes "nono, we were talking about crows!" magpies ARE corvids! :D) is when I go outside for a smoke, I am sortof, below ground, w a lil stair up to the lawn, and a short wooden fence. When I suddenly appear behind that wooden fence, starlings, gulls, other birds will immediately flee the lawn, even if I am a good way away from them. Cats will also be uneasy, since I am sortof out of view, and that scares them. Magpies don't give a shit - not even that - but one of them stood right on the other side of the fence - and took the oportunity to study me.
1. Not only perfectly aware that I had no chance of jumping over the fence, but
2. Inquisitive, curious, and taking advantage of the situation to learn and observe. It is possibly the very same individual bird that pecked on my window just days later, likely curious of the TV-noises coming from my room. Here too it was not deterred by my huge dumb face suddenly appearing in the window, instead watching me like a zoo animal.

/el ranto.
 
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Interesting, Zegh...I always found crows to be really inteligent, more than most of the people could imagine
 
Crows were always my favorite bird for this very reason. Was nice reading an article discussing their intelligence, rather than listening to a bunch of Texans bitch about their cawing and ignorantly calling them "dumb birds" for a change.
 
I've also seen several examples of corvids entertaining themselves.
Deliberate entertainment I see as a symptom of intelligence, to find things out of the ordinary, to experience in a joyous manner.

There exists lots of footage online of corvids sliding, they will slide down the front window of cars, using the snow as lubricant, and the "proof" of their enjoyment, is the swift resoluteness of which they run back up to slide right down again, like eager children.
Otters also slide, and to my surprise I found clips just recently of ducklings repeatedly sliding down a minuature water-slide. These too eagerly running back up to slide again. Maybe we should take another look at duck intelligence? (Or intelligence in general. It is not simply a scale from bad-to-good. Pigeons are, for example, much better than the average human at shape recognition and "mental math")

I have myself seen magpies torment herring gulls, as well as fellow corvids (Crows, rooks and jackdaws, which are common here), the magpie will usually flee - luring these birds to chase it, for then to easily out maneuvre them, in a very confident style.
My grandpa saw a magpie expertly fly through the grid net of a soccer goal, a feat that the chasing gulls could not - and did not even try - to replicate, to their great frustration.

The most impressive example was of ravens, in a documentary, who had learned to land on pigs, and then peck the pig in the back. The pig would squeal, and run in circles, trying to shake the bird off. The raven would just hang on w its claws, and use its wings for balance, while quite litterally riding the pig around :'D
Once the pig finally calmed down, the raven would just peck it again, and make the pig squeal and run all over.
 
Gore bags. And while they are mostly human, they could be made from any other species. They are remarkably resilient and barely require food. They have been biding their time, but I tell you - soon the majestic gore bag will take it's rightful place as the ruler of this world.
 
No Man said:
Gore bags. And while they are mostly human, they could be made from any other species. They are remarkably resilient and barely require food. They have been biding their time, but I tell you - soon the majestic gore bag will take it's rightful place as the ruler of this world.
Click to expand...

That is until some raider plucks out all of the gore bag's awesome entrails to decorate his house... what a sad day it will be. :cry:
 
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