A question for late Sunday afternoon… A giant asteroid is heading for Earth, with no chance of it being diverted. As with the K2/ end of the Age of Dinosaurs event, it’s expected that all life that’s above ground or on the surface of water during the first few days will be wiped out. Months of darkness will follow. It will be years before plant life etc can be properly re-established, meaning many more animals that somehow survived the first few days will starve. After K2 it’s thought that the only surviving animals were small, and either burrowing animals or ones that laid eggs underground that hatched into self-supporting young. This will probably be similar… You are in charge of deciding what land living animal species should be saved in a vast underground ‘ark’. You can probably save 20- 30 species, depending on size and other needs of course. It’s expected that rats, some other small rodents, and various insects will make it through unaided, but if there’s anything you consider essential you might want to include it just in case. Other teams will be working on plants and water living species, but you can include an ‘interdepartmental memo’ about anything in those areas you feel is especially important to your plans. Humans are assumed to be on the list *G* So what’s on your list?
OK, my list. Rough only: I keep changing it! Nb: in some cases I haven’t specified an exact species, as I’d need to consult with experts. Domestic cat (mixed group of moggies) Domestic dog (terrier, basenji, whippet, collie, husky) Goats Pigs (smaller domestic breeds and wild boar) Horse Honey bee Bumble bee Dung beetle Dragonfly Owl Swallow Mallard duck Pheasant Blue tit Robin Roe deer Bat (insect eating) Grey squirrel Rock hyrax Capuchin monkey Opossum Wallaby Ring tailed lemur Red fox Echidna/duck billed platypus (not sure which!) Weasel Giant anteater Black bear
Realised I left out some... Adder Common Lizard European common frog Wondering about squeezing in ring necked parakeets and peregrine falcons too. No one want to play?
