This one has a very strange premise, so if you don’t like that you probably shouldn’t read any further.
So after everyone experiences a worldwide incontestable revelation it turns out that Gaia is not only real but she’s really pretty annoyed with how humanity has been treating the planet. However despite all the evidence to the contrary she is not a cruel godlike entity and she has no objection to intelligence per se, she’s come to the conclusion that those pesky opposable thumbs are the problem.
Instead of just killing humanity off she has decided that she is going to transform every single human on Earth into an animal. She isn’t kidding, she can’t be talked out of it and she demonstrates that she is capable of doing what she has said she is going to do.
She will give everyone a choice of what animal they want to become and gives three days for people to decide. Small children will be transformed into whatever their parents become (or if they choose different species into one or the other).
People will retain their intelligence, memories and personalities and their offspring will also retain human intelligence. Unless the new species has vocal apparatus they can’t talk beyond what they are naturally capable of. They will have all the instincts an animal would naturally have.
She also says no primates are allowed, she’s decided that entire branch is pretty much a wash and has just put it down to a learning experience.
So two questions, what would you choose and why, and would civilisation survive or just fall apart completely? (Gaia might admire a ‘can do’ spirit and ‘carry on regardless’)
I imagine there would be a lot of lions and wolves and other ‘cool’ species running around, at least for a while…
I agree that we are already animals…but I assume that the number of apex predators and the lack of opposable thumbs would lead to mass starvation pretty quick.
There would be way too many tigers and lions and not enough ibex or shrews or field for any good to come out of it.
I kind of thought the intent was obvious from the OP, but OK other animals.
Yeah I imagine that most people will go for apex predators and other creatures like that, which wouldn’t be pretty…
This is why I like asking silly questions like this here, you always get interesting answers, I would never have considered octopi. Would it be possible to have any reconisable technological civilisation underwater though?
Oh and because I forgot to add in the OP, if a person doesn’t choose then Gaia will chose for them.
Long term - in the thousands or millions of years - I think it’s the mustelids that have the best chance of replacing humans, so I’ll go for the otter. As a littoral species they can escape into the ocean away from all those nasty tigers and lions, and escape onto land away from all those nasty octopodes. And they’re not fussed between fresh water and salt water. And they can already use tools. And being on land means that fire becomes available.
If she leaves us human, just in animal form, nothing changes.
Still have the same brains, same knowledge etc.
It wont take long to adapt.
Man is not the apex beast because he is the biggest or fastest or strongest.
He is simply the most versatile and smartest (debatable)
All you get is a wildabeast shaped human who hunts lions.
Also you need to make all humans the same animal, or most likely man defeats man and is no more
Interesting choice! And they look like they have fun as well
Would it be so easy to adapt though? After all most people wouldn’t have opposable thumbs so using technology would be tricky and everything is designed around the human form. Just think how difficult it would be for most animals to drive a car for example. Not being able to talk or easily write information down would be a major stumbling block as well.
Yes I don’t think the idea of a common ‘humanity’ would survive very long even if people retained their intelligence, look how poorly we treat each other at the moment over relatively trivial differences never mind actually being different species. We might see an ‘arms race’ over what formerly-human species comes out on top probably with less common species also being around. Otters would be a good bet though
Good choice I think, raccoon paws are pretty dextrous as well I think, though there are few creatures would mess with a full size adult elephant.
For myself I think I would go for either some sort of bird (just because flying would be neat, also really handy as a look out or scout for others), an arctic-fox because they’re really tough, adaptable and aesthetically pleasing, or a burmese-python just because if I have to be a non-human I’d like to try something really different…keeping warm in winter might be a problem though…
Octopi have very short lifespans. Most only live a year or two. The longest living species max out at five years. I don’t see us sustaining a civilization when we start dying off like that.
My first choice was going to be a chimpanzee until the OP prohibited that. So I’ll go with an elephant. Good brain capacity, decent lifespan, and some tool-using abilities. Plus coolness.
Some sort of corvid. They have the capability of articulation, and that is crucial to maintaining civilization. Raven, probably, but damn, those magpies are so pretty.
