# Which species has it the easiest? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 25, 2014, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-species-has-it-the-easiest/696428 "2014-08-25T03:53:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2014, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-species-has-it-the-easiest/696428/1 "2014-08-25T03:53:50Z")
Meaning time not spending energy as a portion of its life finding and getting food that moves away, not being eaten, not fighting for dominance, not looking for mates or courting them. Playtime is OK, even though hunting, for example, might count as such if you were to ask any animal. Obviously :dubious: anthropomorphics galore on what the Good Life is for animals, but why not. Dolce far niente. Momma’s rich, Daddy’s good lookin’… Land of Cockaigne. Just hanging. Playing. Reaching into the hamper for a beer and sandwich. Canis lupus familiaris? Domesticated cattle, sheep…? Sloths? Elephants? I think being a bacterium is no bed of roses. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2014, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-species-has-it-the-easiest/696428/2 "2014-08-25T03:56:00Z")
Any species that is a pet in America. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2014, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-species-has-it-the-easiest/696428/3 "2014-08-25T03:59:37Z")
This is a bit of a cheat, but “17-year cicadas” spend the first 17 years of their lives just grubbing around underground sucking on roots, and then about 4 weeks in a flurry of activity as an adult, doing all their mating and egg-laying and the like. ---
**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:** [August 25, 2014, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-species-has-it-the-easiest/696428/4 "2014-08-25T04:06:31Z")
Given that “easiest” is subjective, let’s move this to IMHO. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**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:** [August 25, 2014, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-species-has-it-the-easiest/696428/5 "2014-08-25T04:06:42Z")
Tapeworms. ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2014, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-species-has-it-the-easiest/696428/6 "2014-08-25T04:14:50Z")
Before Australia was settled I would imagine many of it’s inhabitants found it fairly easy to survive. The Galapogos animals as well. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2014, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-species-has-it-the-easiest/696428/7 "2014-08-25T05:46:04Z")
Symbiotic bacteria, perhaps? The kind that cooperate with termites to help them digest cellulose. They simply sit there and multiply to the extent of their environment’s ability to support them. Exponential growth, with no predators? (Or do they have?) Sweet deal until you run out of room. (Yoo hoo, humanity!) ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2014, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-species-has-it-the-easiest/696428/8 "2014-08-25T05:53:47Z")
> [@HoneyBadgerDC](#): > > Before Australia was settled I would imagine many of it’s inhabitants found it fairly easy to survive. The Galapogos animals as well. If the current internet memes are any indication, this is the first time in history anybody has suggested that Australia encourages survival. Unless there was a time before venomous spiders, venomous snakes, venomous jellyfish, and venomous mammals. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2014, 8:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-species-has-it-the-easiest/696428/9 "2014-08-25T08:42:44Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Tapeworms. This is my answer, too. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2014, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-species-has-it-the-easiest/696428/10 "2014-08-25T13:40:40Z")
Many species might “have it easy” in terms of guaranteed food supply obtained with minimal effort, but that’s usually balanced against being something else’s prey/host, or having a miniscule chance of leaving any descendants. In the long run, _everything just barely survives_- or not, in which case it goes extinct. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2014, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-species-has-it-the-easiest/696428/11 "2014-08-25T13:50:35Z")
There are insects that spend their entire term of individual existence in stages where they do nothing but eat and sleep in protected environments, then emerge as adults for only a few hours, in which their routine expands to sex with an abundance of willing partners to choose from. Then they roll over, have a cigarette, and die. ---
**Author:** ![Rocketeer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocketeer/32/4437_2.png) [@Rocketeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rocketeer)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2014, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-species-has-it-the-easiest/696428/12 "2014-08-25T15:35:45Z")
Crows. Nothing to do but hang out with your buds, harass the occasional raptor, poke idly at roadkill. It’s the life of Riley. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2014, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-species-has-it-the-easiest/696428/13 "2014-08-25T16:40:46Z")
They must say happy as a clam for a reason. Lie on the ocean floor and sift water for food. In the right spot, predators are few. ---
**Author:** ![tullsterx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@tullsterx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tullsterx)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2014, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-species-has-it-the-easiest/696428/14 "2014-08-25T16:48:19Z")
George Clooney, et al. ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2014, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-species-has-it-the-easiest/696428/15 "2014-08-25T18:19:56Z")
Coelacanth, there’s a reason it hasn’t bothered to evolve. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2014, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-species-has-it-the-easiest/696428/16 "2014-08-25T18:31:34Z")
Probably the species that produced the fewest offspring - those were the ones that stood very high chance of living to breeding age. Pandas, Kakapos, etc. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2014, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-species-has-it-the-easiest/696428/17 "2014-08-26T13:33:42Z")
> [@outlierrn](#): > > Coelacanth, there’s a reason it hasn’t bothered to evolve. This is a common misconception - the modern Coelacanth is\*\* just as evolved\*\* as any other fish in the sea. It just retains an old phenotype. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2014, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-species-has-it-the-easiest/696428/18 "2014-08-26T16:21:09Z")
I think, among the higher organisms, I’d go with the Brown-headed Cowbird (Molothrus ater). Pairing off with a mate for life, lots of good sex, abandon the kids in some other bird’s nest for them to take care of and raise, soaring with the gift of flight, and fly off following the buffalo herds across the beautiful great plains, kicking up abundant seeds and insects for me. ---
**Author:** ![Atomic\_Alex](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atomic_alex/32/175_2.png) [@Atomic\_Alex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atomic_Alex)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2014, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-species-has-it-the-easiest/696428/19 "2014-08-26T16:26:46Z")
Again going for higher organisms I recall watching a documentary that showed a species of African bird-of-prey _(possibly a sea eagle)_ that basically hung around all day and then when it was feeling peckish casually plucked one of the abundant fish from a nearby lake. Ten minutes of hunting tops, the other 23 hours and 50 minutes to do whatever it is eagles do to entertain themselves _(surf the internet probably)_ ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2014, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-species-has-it-the-easiest/696428/20 "2014-08-26T17:09:08Z")
> [@scr4](#): > > Probably the species that produced the fewest offspring - those were the ones that stood very high chance of living to breeding age. Pandas, Kakapos, etc. I don’t get this. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-species-has-it-the-easiest/696428.md?page=2)