ByJoanna Thompsonpublished1 day ago

Is this a “Planet of the Apes” situation?

https://www.livescience.com/what-animals-will-fill-human-niches

Chimpanzees are one of nature’s most adept tool-users(Image credit: Getty Images)

Humans are pretty unique among life on Earth. As far as we know, we’re the only living species to evolve a higher intelligence, wear clothes, cook our food, invent smartphones and then get locked out of them when we forget our passwords.

But what if humans suddenly went extinct? What other animals might evolve to have the smarts and skills to create large, complex societies like we have?

With modern gene-sequencing technology and our understanding ofevolution, “we’re pretty good at making short term predictions,” Martha Reiskind, a molecular ecologist at North Carolina State University, told Live Science. For example, we can predict that if humans were to suddenly go extinct tomorrow,climate changewould continue to drive many species toward drought resiliency…