If the animal that we're descended from died off when the dinosaurs did what would the world be like now?

Question

If the animal that we're descended from died off when the dinosaurs did what would the world be like now?

Answer 1

With no mammals my guess is birds would have inherited the Earth. In the early Cenozoic (age of mammals), you saw birds starting to move into some of the niches that dinosaurs used to occupy. There was one big flightless bird called Phoroshacos that evolved into a predator that fed on the ancestors of modern horses! In OTL these big birds were eventually outcompeted by mammals, but with mammals not around they'd have moved right into all the niches vacated by the dinosaurs. The planet would be full of ostrich and emu like birds, with Phoroshacos-like creatures being the big predators.

Answer 2

Good question. No doubt evolution would have filled the niches vacated by the demise of our ancestors. Would some other creature have evolved our intelligence? Probably. There are some pretty smart birds now. Go crows go!

Answer 3

Where have you been?

Most of them did just that; some were able to hide in damp rocks, deep under ground. Lucky for us, huh?

Jim D

Answer 4

wild

Answer 5

If all the other primates died off also, I would think some-other animal line would've became as intelligent but they would've also needed hands I would think or something like an elephants trunk to help make tools.  I have thought that maybe elephants could have evolved enough to be top "dog" because they also live in groups and help each other.  I read somewhere that humans were actually more intelligent than they needed to be.  I do tend to agree because if we don't get smarter about the planet we will have been too successful.

Answer 6

Humans are descended from Apes, but it stands to reason that if our crucial link had died off with the Dinosaurs, that there might have still have been a highly intelligent creature evolving from any other genus besides Primate.

  Marsupial, or Lizard, or Horse,  or dog, cat, etc., too,  come to mind.

Answer 7

NO ANCESTOR OF MINE EVER SAW A LIVING DINOSAUR.  WE DON'T EVEN KNOW FOR A FACT THAT WE EVOLVED FROM AN ANIMAL ORIGINATING FROM THIS PLANET.  WE HAVE NO SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE TO EXPLAIN THE ROLE OF DIVINE INTERVENTION.  THE LIST OF POSSIBILITIES IS LONG AND INTERESTING.  

ONE THING IS FOR CERTAIN, HOWEVER.  IF WE DON'T DO A BETTER JOB OF MANAGING THE PLANET'S RESOURCES AND PROTECTING THE ENVIRONMENT WE WILL BE THE NEXT FAILED SPECIES.