There’s no such thing as ancient maize, really. Maize is the domesticated form of teosinte, but is physically so unlike teosinte that it could never revert without human intervention.
It was asked in the OP, so I included it in this thread.
There are thousands of square miles planted with corn. It has to have a fair chance of surviving from animals spreading the kernels and random ears that will let the kernels come out. It may have a problem with other plants choking it out because corn plants need proximity to each other to pollinate effectively. I think it would be a race between the corn’s ability to adapt and other plant’s choking out it’s habitat. The GMOs may have an advantage over other plants that puts it ahead.
Oh, sure, but honestly, it should be a separate query, I think.
Well, hybridized animals like mules would be gone forever, since they can’t reproduce on their own.
Horses and donkeys will still exist, there could be more mules.
They wouldn’t go extinct, but house mice and common rats would reduce tremendously in numbers without humans. Man is a mouse’s best friend.
I keep hearing that domestic turkeys are stupid. But then again, I’ve heard of them getting loose and going wild in some areas. Are they candidates for extinction? I know that the wild turkeys that are still wild will have no problem.
Hypothetically, but did they ever interbreed before people domesticated them?
Doubtful. GMO crops are all genetically identical, so they are all very susceptible to being wiped out by disease, weather changes, and so on. Mutations don’t happen fast enough to replace existing genetic variation.
Domesticated turkeys aren’t rocket scientists, but they’d be plenty smart enough to survive in the wild if intelligence were the only issue. They’re no dumber than wild turkeys, and they still have the natural instincts to scratch and peck, so they could probably still find food.
Domesticated turkeys’ biggest problem in the wild is that people have bred them to be much too big for their own good. They’re so heavy that they often can’t mate naturally any more (the female just couldn’t support the male’s weight), so artificial insemination is now standard.
And the poor things can’t run or fly fast enough to escape from the many predators out there. They’d be easy (and delicious) meals for coyotes or foxes.
In addition, wild populations of junglefowl (also Gallus gallus) still exist. I’ve even seen one of them … for like a half a second. They’re very fast. I’d think they’d do well if humans disappeared, especially since humans have wiped out most of their other predators.
But you need a male donkey and a female horse to make a mule. Not so likely in the wild.
Mules aren’t a species, so it’s kind of a moot point.
Species or not, there’d likely be no more mules (let alone more bizarre hybrids like zonkeys and tiglons).
Could happen. All you need is a small mare or a big ass.
Until a moderator removes if from the OP, why would it matter what you think? It’s there in the OP now.
Grizzlies would make a comeback into their former habitat. Lions in Asia, and elephants all over. Bison would repopulate the American prairie. Fish stocks would replenish. The world would be quite different.