paw WHO IS NEXT?After humans, who inherits the future?
Fully evolved raccoon civilisation in a forest valley

WHO IS NEXT?

After humans, who inherits the future?

A speculative natural history project about evolution, intelligence and deep time.

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The question

Not prediction. Possibility.

This site asks which living lineages have the right mix of intelligence, manipulation, social learning and ecological opportunity to become something very different over millions of years.

Leading candidatesRaccoons, elephants and corvids. The rulesHow the contenders are judged. Deep-time timelineFrom human absence to 50 million years. Runners-upOther species with intriguing potential.

A speculative thought experiment

WHO IS NEXT? is primarily a creative and entertaining exploration of possible evolutionary futures.

While inspired by real animal cognition research, behavioural studies and evolutionary biology, the site is not intended as a rigorous scientific model or prediction.

The scenarios presented are speculative, simplified and imaginative, using limited research papers and broad evolutionary concepts as inspiration rather than definitive science.