(The Dog's) Life After People

If you didn’t catch the documentary “Life After People“ last night on the History channel look for it in re-runs (there are plenty of those on these days!).  The program is an entertaining look into what the world might be like if human beings suddenly ceased to exist.

Along with eye candy provided by visual effects showing the demise of landmarks like the Empire State Building, Golden Gate Bridge, Hoover Dam and Eiffel Tower; the program also takes a look at existing abandoned places like Chernobyl, and some island towns off the coast of Maine. 

The video touches on the potential fates of domestic animal species including an interesting discussion about the ability of our dogs to survive presented by Raymond Coppinger.  Coppinger notes that without us to take care of them, many dog species would not survive. Those that did survive might evolve to a form more like dingos or other feral dogs or interbreed with coyotes, wolves or other wild canids to form new species.

We’ll give it two paws up for entertainment value and a half paw up for scientific validity. The documentary was understandbly vague about how all human life suddenly ceased to exist while leaving animal populations intact. Other interesting aspects such as survival of exotic species (such as those in zoos), how urban ecosystems might change over time, potential changes in climate, cross-breeding and hybridization, and evolution of existing species were either glossed over lightly or ignored completely. 

Like most ‘documentaries’ we see these days it offers more gee whiz moments than truly insightful ones — but its far more entertaining than the current fare of reality teevee shows and reruns.

Zip masquerading as a Dingo. Could she survive alone in the wild?

About these ads