The future is going to be very strange indeed. Humanity is taking up more and more of the world’s land surface. More and more of the available habitats are inside human territory. Wildlife can live within human cities and suburbs, but it requires a great deal of adaptation. Imagine a future where hundreds of species are as adapted to living in our cities as pigeons or raccoons are. If we don’t blow ourselves up in atomic fire or fall in an ecological collapse, this is a likely future for our species.

Cities are a habitat. They offer certain opportunities for resources such as food and water. They offer spaces for nesting and reproduction. Cities represent one of the few ecological niches on this planet that hasn’t been fully exploited by evolution. And nature abhors a vacuum. Any ecological niche will be filled eventually. They do require extensive adaptation however. Behaviors that are adaptive in the wild are maladaptive in cities.

If we manage to somehow keep our crazy way of life going, I imagine in a few millennia our cities will be swarming with dozens of semi-domesticated species similar to raccoons and pigeons. And I imagine they will exhibit any number of clever and surprising adaptive behaviors like this coyote here.

Hell, people may even find ways to harness this wildlife. Maybe instead of hiring people to pick up trash, we could train crows to collect it for us. Maybe you could train crows to gather up trash, take it to a bin, and have the bin dispense a treat for the crow.

I hope the future will be strange indeed.