What animal would gain sentience?

[Otterpoet]

squids. no seriously, thay allready have the intelligence of a 5 year old (some species at least).

Good to see someone else agree with me about the octupi/squid thing.

Wonder if 5 year olds taste just as good breaded and deep fried?

Regrettably... no.

 

[JoshGod]

well what ever it is will need to grow thumbs
so probly monkey or ape etc

or possible vegtables they seem more clever than some of my pets

 

[hermes]

Dolphins probably...
Man had always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much - the wheel, New York, wars and so on - whilst all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But conversely, the dolphins had always believed that they were far more intelligent than man - for precisely the same reasons.
Cookies to the one that gets the reference.

Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy
Easy reference

http://pixiestixkidspix.files.wordpress.com/2007/08/cookie-bite-web.jpg

 

[dietpeachsnapple]

I would suspect whatever creature has the largest faculty for linguistics/intra-species communication.

 

[Tiny116]

I remember reading about this somewhere and they said that if humans where to die out right now, cats would become the dominate species.

Awesome. A world populated only by little kitties!!

I think your little kitties would be more along the lines of cold blooded killers.
But yes I remember it being in UK papers not long ago about how quickly nature would take back human cultivated areas, not much more than a few years.
Dogs would die out because they've become to dependant on humans, Some zoo animals would survive...if they could escape the zoo.
And going back to cats, in places like America where there are tall iron structured buildings the concrete would disapear but the iron "skeleton" if you like would remain, and it is here aparantly where Cats would evolve wings, a bit like flying squirrels to better hunt their prey...crazy right.
(god knows how i remembered that much)

Yeah, that might have been what I saw (don't remember the part about cats evolving wings, but okay.) and I remember them talking about how cats would gather around large buildings where all that's left is the "skeleton" and how nature would quickly take back cities.

But still, cold blooded killers or not, kitties with wings? How cute would that be ?

Well i found the news article, And I was right about the flying cats:
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/tv/1202973/Its-a-jungle-out-there.html
(Sorry don't know how to do the spoiler thingy)
That guy thinks Chimps will take over.

However some of the things he says are contradicted in this one:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-468267/How-world-thrive-mankind.html
He thinks baboons will take over (something about being more adaptable and having a healthier gene pool)

1st one thinks Cockroaches will do well 2nd dosn't but hey.

{yes i know i just quoted the Mail and the Sun. Shame on me Shame on me.)

 

[D0WNT0WN]

Cats, lets face it they're already there we just don't know it.

Cats are evil though. Everytime I got to eat my dinner my little brother's cat goes "Hey do you remember what the end of a sausage roll looks like?" and then it turns it's ass to me.

 

[Video Gone]

Dolphins.
They're already more intelligent damn it, it's just we always misinterpret their attempts to tell us what's happening.
(Fun fact: Stephen Fry will then narrate a movie of the dolphin conquest and completely exaggerate their part in the story while they perform a short musical number in the background.)
No cookie for that Fun Fact, everyone's read those books.
On a more serious note, and since everyone else is saying Octopi and Squid... lets? Squidi? Squids, or whatever, I'm saying...
Monkeys.
Isn't there already a campaign for chimpanzees to get human rights?
(Wacky, I know.)

 

[Disaster Button]

Cats, lets face it they're already there we just don't know it.

Cats are evil though. Everytime I got to eat my dinner my little brother's cat goes "Hey do you remember what the end of a sausage roll looks like?" and then it turns it's ass to me.

Lewl. Yeah mine do that to me all the time, I still know they love me though cos they let me feed them without scratching me to bits. They're tough work.

 

[lvl9000_woot]

Cows.
Never underestimate the power of cows.

Cows? I have theory about cows.

They are alien warriors sent to battle the grey aliens. They travel from a planet un-type-able and un-pronounceable planet. They like us, so they fight the grey aliens who are hoping to take over our planet.

Hey, it explains cattle mutilations, doesn't it?

They must really like us if they let us eat them for lunch XD

 

[Carboncrown]

HMMM....


Otters.

you saw south park!

Ahem!

Craab people,
craab people,
taste like crabs,
talk like people~

That is all.

 

[grimsprice]

squids. no seriously, thay allready have the intelligence of a 5 year old (some species at least).

-Woooo, 2000 posts!!! Anyways, i was saying something about animals being able to manipulate their environment. Something about dolphins never being able to create civilization, but who cares.

 

[Kenni-chan]

Scientists believe cats

 

[Stillve]

There would be noone around human enough to decide that there is such a thing as sentience, so none. Until the Great Old Ones come, anyway.

 

[oppp7]

Pigs.

Cookie for who knows what I mean.

Orwell references are worth cookies now?

I thought is was Manson, but oh well.

I'd be hoping for either squirrels, mice, or any other small and totally adorable rodent. That rules out rats.

I just think it would be cool to see medieval-style rodents running around, battling cats in place of dragons. Read that again a couple times and tell me it's not awesome.

You mean like Redwall?

 

[lvl9000_woot]

http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/cuttlefish.png

200 DPI eh? I think I know where the TV market is going after the LED/HDTV craze.

OT: Didn't they have the answer to this on the History channel?

Edit: And you better believe I'll be the first person to own a HD-cuttlefish-TV

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

The pig.

 

[AkJay]

PLATYPUS'!

 

[Treblaine]

Loads of animals have sentience. Very little separates Chimpanzees and humans, mainly because Chimps have no effective from of verbal communication they seem so different from humans or "non-sentient" relegating them to being "just another animal"

The thing you are looking for which defines humans is how as a species we Completely Dominate this planet.

That would means cities, culture, technology, recorded knowledge... probably some chimp or ape might eventually achieve that level of dominance on this planet if us humans were to miraculously disappear... but you should realise that all the other hominids on this planet have died out, only one species of the hominid family survives: Homo Sapien.

Though the species has done awfully well for itself it did depend on a LARGE amount of luck and just the right conditions.

 

[Godavari]

Fuckin' ants, man. Their queen will become intelligent and comand her hive mind to create tools and incindeary devices to combat other ants.

 

[TheGreatCoolEnergy]

Ants. I'm pretty shure the hive mind would evolve till sentience, at which point they would dominate the planet.