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Giant rats might inherit Earth after mankind

NZPA staff correspondent London Giant-sized rats, rabbits, seagulls and mice could be roaming the Earth long after man is extinct. That is the picture of the world 50 million years from now, which was given in the British Association for the Advancement of Science’s session on the future. A science writer, Dougal Dixon, described a world in which mankind had passed away through over-popula-tion, misuse of resources,

pollution and other factors, while other life would continue to evolve. The rhinoceros, tiger and whale might disappear before man did, as well as domestic animals like horses, dogs, cows and sheep, but rats as big as wolves would remain as the predators along with killer baboons. Rabbits might grow to the size of deer and mice to the size of foxes but generally the creatures inheriting the Earth after man, big carnivores and herbivores,

would be small, non-special- - ? ised, go anywhere and J anything. .. " • Nor would there be a'j* master species taking the A place of man: “Nature won’t make that mistake again,” Mr Dixon said. ; < He proposed the niche * now filled by the whale would be taken by a creature already black on top and white underneath, streamlined, with fin stabilisers and potential rear >. power source ready for the - deep ocean - such as whale- Aj sized penguins. <

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Permanent link to this item

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19841023.2.129

Bibliographic details

Press, 23 October 1984, Page 34

Word Count
223

Giant rats might inherit Earth after mankind Press, 23 October 1984, Page 34

Giant rats might inherit Earth after mankind Press, 23 October 1984, Page 34