# IF Homo Sapiens were wiped off the planet would any other species become extinct? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 24, 2002, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-homo-sapiens-were-wiped-off-the-planet-would-any-other-species-become-extinct/129515 "2002-09-24T20:43:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2002, 9:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-homo-sapiens-were-wiped-off-the-planet-would-any-other-species-become-extinct/129515/41 "2002-09-26T09:35:37Z")
Both chicken and cattle have gone feral in various parts of the world so they would happily survive without people. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2002, 9:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-homo-sapiens-were-wiped-off-the-planet-would-any-other-species-become-extinct/129515/42 "2002-09-26T09:49:31Z")
At least the Lorax (and all of his friends) would come back. ---
**Author:** ![Silentgoldfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@Silentgoldfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silentgoldfish)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2002, 10:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-homo-sapiens-were-wiped-off-the-planet-would-any-other-species-become-extinct/129515/43 "2002-09-26T10:07:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Blake \* > \*\*Both chicken and cattle have gone feral in various parts of the world so they would happily survive without people. \*\* How would cows do it? I’ve always assumed that without people to milk them and assist in births they’d die out quickly. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2002, 10:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-homo-sapiens-were-wiped-off-the-planet-would-any-other-species-become-extinct/129515/44 "2002-09-26T10:23:05Z")
Probably mostly true in terms of the birthing aspect, but I suspect a few would manage to give birth naturally (although I’m not sure); assuming that they managed to give birth sucessfully, the milking operation would be carried out by the calf. ---
**Author:** ![woolly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ebca7d/32.png) [@woolly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woolly)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2002, 10:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-homo-sapiens-were-wiped-off-the-planet-would-any-other-species-become-extinct/129515/45 "2002-09-26T10:44:26Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Silentgoldfish \* > How would cows do it? I’ve always assumed that without people to milk them and assist in births they’d die out quickly. Aren’t you forgetting that is how it is for beef herds? Lots of range grazing beef cattle in Queensland. Dairy cattle produce high milk yields because they are fed high quality feed including grain. Remove that level of nutrition, yields fall. Also, if the calf or milking machine doesn’t remove the milk, production fall rapidly and eventually ceases. The vast magority of dairy cattle give birth unassisted. Again, the problem with assisted births is foetal/pelvic diproportion i.e. the calf is too big, and a magor contributing factor is high levels of nutrition. Left to fend for themselves calves would be smaller and birth difficulties would be less. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Slant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c57346/32.png) [@Mr.Slant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Slant)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2002, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-homo-sapiens-were-wiped-off-the-planet-would-any-other-species-become-extinct/129515/46 "2002-09-26T17:26:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by abby \* > \*\*What about chooks (er, you Merkins call 'em “chickens” I think?). They are dumb, virtually flightless, and have no defence mechanisms. > > abby \*\* In a place near Pittsboro, NC, a chicken carrier semi truck overturned near a bridge. There were feral chickens in the woods near that bridge for years. The bridge wound up being referred to by the locals as “chicken bridge”. I’ve since moved, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it stuck. ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2002, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-homo-sapiens-were-wiped-off-the-planet-would-any-other-species-become-extinct/129515/47 "2002-09-26T23:29:09Z")
"Lots of range grazing beef cattle in Queensland. " And Texas. And Mexico. And Brazil. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2002, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-homo-sapiens-were-wiped-off-the-planet-would-any-other-species-become-extinct/129515/48 "2002-09-27T00:02:32Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Colibri \* > \*\* What are you talking about? All those species reproduce in the wild. _Most_ endangered species would cease to be endangered if humans left the scene. \*\* I said “I imagine.” 🙂 I thought the California Sea Otters were so few in numbers and their habitat so overwhelmed by other predators that have moved in since their numbers dwindled that they could not sustain their population by breeding in the wild, and therefore have to be bred in captivity? That’s what the woman at the Monterey Bay Aquarium told me, anyway. > [@](#): > > Since foxes have never been succesfully domesticated, how can these ones not be able to breed in the wild? Are they just that rare they can’t find mates? Foxes have been one of the most successful animals in all of history; they are like large rat-dogs in terms of human coexistance. There are so few of them b/c a virus (can’t remember which) pratically destroyed them. They now rely heavily upon humans to feed them b/c they don’t have enough food of their own to sustain them **on Santa Catalina Island**. I’m sure if they made it to the mainland there wouldn’t be a problem. ---
**Author:** ![SparrowHawk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ac8455/32.png) [@SparrowHawk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SparrowHawk)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2002, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-homo-sapiens-were-wiped-off-the-planet-would-any-other-species-become-extinct/129515/49 "2002-09-27T00:05:20Z")
I hadn’t heard of that flower in Hawaii (and I have friends in TropAg! Holding out on me!) so I had to look it up. 'Tis indeed true according to [this site:](http://www.emagazine.com/july-august_1999/0799feat2.html) > [@](#): > > These days, Cox is at ground zero on the U.S.’ extinction front–Hawaii, home to one-third of the nation’s at-risk plants, 263 of which receive protection under the federal Endangered Species Act. No other state has more. > > To work for Cox, one must be a fearless mountain climber. Staffer Steve Pearlman has rappelled down 4,000 feet of treacherous terrain on the Na Pali coast of Kauai. Holding out a watercolor brush while dangling, he hand-pollinates a plant sticking out of the cliff. Then he rappells back with seeds from the Brighamia insignus. Cox says his staffers “just fly across the gardens dangling from a helicopter” to get the job done. [There’s a picture here](http://www.nhm.org/research/botany/Hawaii_Vanishing_Flora/Coastal_Zone_Folder/brig_insig.html) ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2002, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-homo-sapiens-were-wiped-off-the-planet-would-any-other-species-become-extinct/129515/50 "2002-09-27T16:46:40Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Dooku \* > \*\*I said “I imagine.” 🙂 I thought the California Sea Otters were so few in numbers and their habitat so overwhelmed by other predators that have moved in since their numbers dwindled that they could not sustain their population by breeding in the wild, and therefore have to be bred in captivity? That’s what the woman at the Monterey Bay Aquarium told me, anyway. > \*\* I think you may have misunderstood, at least in part. Most of the buildup of the California Sea Otter’s population since their “rediscovery” in the 1930s (they had been thought to be extinct) has been due to breeding in the wild. Lately there has been a bit of a decline, perhaps due to pollution. A check on the web indicates there is a small captive breeding program, but as far as I can see there’s no indication that releases from this program are having a major impact on wild populations. Part of the confusion from your post was because you said “mate” when you seem to have meant “reproduce.” ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2002, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-homo-sapiens-were-wiped-off-the-planet-would-any-other-species-become-extinct/129515/51 "2002-09-27T21:01:44Z")
OK, that makes more sense - I probably heard it wrong. Thanks for clearing that up. (I did mean “reproduce” - sorry). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-homo-sapiens-were-wiped-off-the-planet-would-any-other-species-become-extinct/129515.md?page=2)