History Main / HumansAreNotTheDominantSpecies

* ''VideoGame/SandsOfDestruction'': On a sand-buried planet, beastmen rule the world while humans are the lower class. Naturally, beastmen prove to be huge bastards when they're on top - and the humans are also bastards [[CosmicSuicidalTemperTantrum because they'd rather destroy the world than live at the bottom of it]].

* ''Film/SuperMarioBros1993'' features a variation with an alternate version of Earth where people evolved from dinosaurs instead of primates, and the inhabitants are [[LizardFolk reptilian]] instead of mammalian. When Mario and Luigi travel there, they stand out as being the only mammals there.

* The ''[[Film/SuperMarioBros1993 1993 Super Mario Bros.]]'' movie features a variation with an alternate version of Earth where people evolved from dinosaurs instead of primates, and the inhabitants are [[LizardFolk reptilian]] instead of mammalian. When Mario and Luigi travel there, they stand out as being the only mammals there.

* The ''[[Film/SuperMarioBros1993 1993 Super Mario Bros.]]'' movie features a variation with an alternate version of Earth where people evolved from dinosaurs instead of primates. They’re technically people, but are [[LizardFolk reptilian]] instead of mammalian. When Mario and Luigi travel there, they stand out as being the only mammals there.

* The ''[[Film/SuperMarioBros1993 1993 Super Mario Bros.]]'' movie features a variation with an alternate version of Earth where people evolved from dinosaurs instead of primates. They’re technically people, but are [[LizardFolk reptilian]] instead of mammalian. When Mario and Luigi travel there, they stand out as bring the only mammals there.

* The [[Film/SuperMarioBros1993 ''1993 Super Mario Bros.'' movie]] features a variation with an alternate version of Earth where people evolved from dinosaurs instead of primates. They’re technically people, but are [[LizardFolk reptilian]] instead of mammalian. When Mario and Luigi travel there, they stand out as bring the only mammals there.

* The [[Film/SuperMarioBros1993 1993 Super Mario Bros. movie]] features a variation with an alternate version of Earth where people evolved from dinosaurs instead of primates. They’re technically people, but are [[LizardFolk reptilian]] instead of mammalian. When Mario and Luigi travel there, they stand out as bring the only mammals there.

* ''Anime/GodzillaPlanetOfTheMonsters'': Humanity, after various wars and environmental degradation, found itself under siege by increasingly dangerous Kaiju; the most powerful of which was Godzilla. Not even the arrival of two alien races with more advanced technology manages to turn the tide. Many thousands of years later when a failed colony ship returns to Earth, the entire ecosystem has evolved with highly dangerous animals and resilient plants that'll make resettlement extremely difficult. That some kaiju still exist makes it all but impossible. Haruo, who lost his parents to Godzilla's final attack, makes it his mission to give Earth back to humanity's dominion.
** The first sequel, ''Anime/GodzillaCityOnTheEdgeOfBattle'', shows some humans did survive on Earth and evolved into the Hotua culture and subspecies under Mothra's protection. Despite lacking advanced technology, they are content with life and treated as civilized nonetheless. Seeing this and the questionable behavior of some of his compatriots, Haruo begins to doubt his convictions.
** The final film in the trilogy, ''Anime/GodzillaThePlanetEater'' takes it a further step. [[spoiler:Ultimately Haruo and humanity's ambition is concluded to be folly. The old human dominated civilization was not as good as some remember it, leading to unchecked pride and hubris that created the kaiju to begin with. Haruo, not wanting to alter the Hotua's more sustainable way of life, sees to the last of the old technology is destroyed at the cost of his life. In the epilogue, the Hotua are still thriving without dominance of the world, treating Godzilla the same way one might a hurricane or force of nature with dominion of the world.]]

* ''Literature/Overlord2012'': Humanity in the New World is far from the dominant race. Prior to the Six Gods' arrival, they were on the verge of ''extinction'' since they were easy prey for the rest of the New World's inhabitants. The Six Gods [[spoiler:introducing Tier magic to the setting]] gave humans a fighting chance.
* ''Manga/Versus2022'' has this as its entire premise, to the point that its ArcWords are "like birds to insects, like snakes to frogs, like ███ to humans, to win against one's own natural enemy is completely impossible." The story is built around thirteen different worlds where humanity has been pushed to the brink by thirteen different threats, and it's established fairly early that the only chance it has for survival is to [[EvilVersusEvil lure those threats into battle against one another]] and hope they survive the crossfire.

* In ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogArchieComics'', hundreds of years ago a species of aliens sent DNA bombs to kill all of humanity while saving the other species. Instead, the DNA bombs made humans "devolve" into a crueler, four-fingered species known as the Overlanders, while animals evolved into {{Funny Animal}}s. Over the years, Mobians have become the dominant species while Outlanders and humans live in seclusion.
* In "A Dream of a Thousand Cats", a short story in the third volume of ''ComicBook/TheSandman1989'', a housecat discovers that cats were once the dominant species on planet Earth, growing to enormous sizes while humans served their needs. But the humans grew resentful and, [[ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve collectively dreaming together]], created a world where humans are the dominant species and cats are their pets. A group of housecats now roams the Earth, spreading this gospel of their former glory and implore all cats who hear them to dream back the old world.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheGoodDinosaur'': The film's premise is that the dinosaurs never became extinct, and formed a primitive farming society. Humans are still animalistic, behaving mostly like [[AllAnimalsAreDogs dogs]].

* The ''Franchise/MonsterVerse'' which began with ''Film/Godzilla2014'' and ''Film/KongSkullIsland'' is about humanity quickly realizing that they were never earth’s dominant species with the discovery of many prehistoric [[{{Kaiju}} giant super-species]] called “Titans” which are earth’s true rulers.
* The central premise of the whole ''Franchise/PlanetOfTheApes'' series. The first film depicted a world where humans were reduced to the state of animals, with civilized apes ruling the world and hunting humans for sport. The infamous TwistEnding reveals [[spoiler:[[EarthAllAlong this planet is actually Earth in the far future]].]] The various sequels/prequels and the reboot showed how the fall of human society allowed apes to ascend to dominance.

* ''Literature/TheHellequinChronicles'' has it made quite clear that humans aren't even remotely the dominant species, with the various non-human species (most of which are closer to HumanSubspecies) being far, far more powerful both individually and politically. Every political leader gets a 'First Meeting' from a representative of Avalon, the supernatural UN, which lays out exactly where they stand. More generally, AllMythsAreTrue (mostly); while the old gods are really 'just' obscenely powerful nonhumans, they're all every bit as powerful as the myths would say and more, and [[SmugSuper they know it]] - even the nice ones who are polite to/respectful of humans tend to assume an inherent superiority, and there's a broad streak of FantasticRacism. It's pointed that because of this, humanity will ''not'' take it well if they ever discover that they're not the dominant species... and they don't, as the My Liege faction, led by none other than [[spoiler: King Arthur]], demonstrates in their plans to TakeOverTheWorld through Avalon. [[spoiler: Terrifyingly enough, they succeed]].
* Played with in ''Literature/TailchasersSong''. According to the [[AnimalReligion cat]] CreationMyth (which is [[AllMythsAreTrue true]]), the world was created by a cat for cats. Humans came into existence when one of the first cats beat and deformed a haughty prince into a "m'an". The world is now dominated by humans, however [[ThisIsMyHuman cats still think that humans are their servants]].
* ''Literature/WingsOfFire'' takes place in a world where dragons rule over the lands. Humans, or "scavengers" as dragons call them, are considered an endangered species and only live in a few select areas. Originally, humans were more dominant, however that changed when dragons began creating kingdoms and living under queens. Most dragons look down upon humans and see them as weird, dumb, and mostly good for food or blood sports, but some of them (including most of the protagonists) think of humans as cute, and there are even a few cases of dragons keeping [[HumanPet humans as pets]].
* ''Literature/PlanetOfTheApes'' has the astronauts Ulysses and Antelle explore a planet where humans live like animals, and civilized apes hunt them for sport or conduct medical experiments on them. The TwistEnding is different from the more famous film adaptation: [[spoiler:the planet, Soror, is completely separate from Earth. But when Ulysses escapes and returns to Earth, he finds that apes have conquered humanity while he was away, presumably just like they did on Soror.]]
* In ''Literature/ThePendragonAdventure'' series, the planet Eelong is populated by two species, the Klee and the Gar (humans). The Klee are CatFolk who rule the planet and keep humans as either pets or slaves, seeing them as no more than animals. The plot of ''Black Water'' involves the secret human city of Black Water, where free humans are secretly gathering and preparing to rebel against their Klee overlords.

* Creator/ColinWilson's ''Spider World'' series is set in a post-apocalyptic world where telepathic giant spiders and various insects are the dominant species.
* In ''Literature/ToothAndClaw'', Dragons and Humans share the planet--not always happily, but they've achieved an uneasy peace. Both have civilizations which have reached steam-powered technology and the basics of an industrial revolution. Neither one could reasonably be described as dominant--though the dragons certainly considered themselves superior and more civilized. The book doesn't really explore what humans might think of all this.
* In ''Of Men and Monsters'', Earth was invaded and taken over by gigantic aliens generations ago and humans survive as vermin, living in the insulation of their houses and stealing scraps of food and materials from them. The primitive tribes of humans all pay lip service to the idea that one day they will take the world back, but eventually the Aaron people, the most advanced human "civilisation" left, realise that even if they could, they don't know how to provide for themselves anymore. They instead decide to up sticks and sneak aboard one of the alien's ships, and spread out to infest every world in their empire to ensure their survival.

* ''Literature/{{Destroyermen}}'' takes place in an alternate universe where the K-T extinction event never happened. As a consequence, the world is dominated by three or four other intelligent species, mainly the Lemurians (semi-humanoid primates, but descended from Madagascar lemurs instead of the great apes) and Grik (descended from therapod dinosaurs). The only humans in the setting are those that have crossed from our timeline over the centuries due to a recurring NegativeSpaceWedgie, or descendants of same.
* ''Literature/{{The Long Earth}}'': The central premise is that there are an infinite number of alternate-dimension Earths, but ours is the only one where humanity evolved. There some Earths where humanoid species (some resembling yetis or elves) have some primitive societies, but nowhere near as dominant as humanity.
* The HumanAliens of ''Literature/{{Helliconia}}'''s eponymous planet were living under the rule of phagors who were better suited to the planet's cold climate. Then Helliconia's parent star got caught [[BinarySuns in orbit around another star]], giving rise to warmer seasons when humans can rule over phagors instead.
* In ''Literature/{{Dragaera}}'', the LongLived, [[OurElvesAreDifferent elf-like]] Dragaerans and their eponymous continent-spanning empire have been the dominant political and magical power on the planet for almost 200 000 years, while the human "Easterners" have a few small kingdoms of their own and are generally seen as [[FantasticRacism second-class citizens]] within the Empire. Oddly, both species call themselves "human" InUniverse, a relic of the fact that [[spoiler:the Dragaerans were created through genetic manipulation by the Jenoine AbusivePrecursors]].

** Lostbelt 7, Nahui Mictlan, is ruled by intelligent dinosaurs, with humans apparently never evolving. [[spoiler:It turns out that humans did evolve, but the point of divergence had them appear a hundred million years or so early, meaning they were around when ORT, [[UltimateLifeForm Ultimate One of the Oort Cloud]], came to wipe them out - it shows up too early in the proper timeline. Humanity is wiped out in a mass sacrifice to empower one of their own to defeat ORT. Mictlan is ultimately destroyed when ORT wakes up and moves to regain its heart, which is Mictlan's sun]].
* ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'': Round-eared humans play a generally marginal role in the setting. Most notable events in the series center around the pointy-eared Hylians, Sheikah and Gerudo, as well as the more clearly non-human races, while humans rarely produce notable individuals from their ranks. They're also relatively uncommon, and mostly inhabit territories on the edge of Hyrule and the known world.
* ''VideoGame/MutantFootballLeague'' manual states that mutant humans were kept in zoos until only 10 years ago when they revolted and demanded they be allowed to play in the MFL. They had no other demands.
* ''Videogame/PrimalRage'': After a meteor strikes the Earth and causes a massive cataclysm, ancient deities ([[{{Kaiju}} mostly resembling dinosaurs and giant primates]]) arise from an ancient slumber and conquer the world. Humankind regresses into tribes which serve these deities and becomes so primitive that they now refer to their planet as "Urth".

* ''VideoGame/{{Subverse}}'': PlayedWith - while humans are most certainly not the dominant race in the galaxy the game is set in (on account of recently arriving there due to a wormhole and having their new homeworld blasted to the stone age by the local dominant race, the Senu), it's never stated if this is the case in Milky Way galaxy.

[[folder:Web Original]]

** [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-1000 SCP-1000]] are TheRemnant of a nocturnal hominid species with incredible OrganicTechnology and nuclear weapons. At some point humans not only fought back against their domination (70% of the population died in one day as they slept), they managed to purge that they'd ever existed from human memory. They're better known to {{muggles}} as Bigfoot.

** {{Subverted|Trope}} in the second episode, "[[Recap/RickAndMortyS1E2LawnmowerDog Lawnmower Dog]]". The viewer is led to believe that cyborg dogs have taken over the earth, usurping humans as the dominant species. Instead, it turns out that [[spoiler:it was AllJustADream designed to convince the leader of the dog rebellion that taking over the Earth would make them just like the humans, leading him to decide to colonize another dimension instead]].
** In Season 6's [[Recap/RickAndMortyS6E6JuricksicMort "Juricksic Mort"]], it's revealed that some of the [[LivingDinosaurs dinosaurs survived]] and became {{ultraterrestrials}} colonizing the universe, before returning home and establishing a VichyEarth. Humanity thrives under their benevolent rule, but quickly realizes VictoryIsBoring and want them gone.
* ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'' is set in the Land of Ooo, implied to be Earth AfterTheEnd. For the first few seasons, Finn is the only human left, but as the show goes on, a handful of other human characters show up, and one supporting character is revealed to have been a human once. The Islands story arc in season eight reveals that humans have settled in a group of islands isolated from the rest of Ooo. They actually have [[HumanityIsAdvanced extremely advanced technology]] compared to most of the rest of the world, but are too insular to attempt to retake the rest of Earth, or even let their own citizens leave.

* The third storyline of ''VideoGame/FateGrandOrder'', ''Cosmos in the Lostbelt'', explores a few {{Alternate Timeline}}s where humanity is not the sole dominant species in the titular Lostbelts.

* In ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogArchieComics'', hundreds of years ago a species of aliens sent DNA bombs to kill all of humanity while saving the other species. Instead, the DNA bombs made humans "devolve" into a crueler, four-fingered species known as the Outlanders, while animals evolved into {{Funny Animal}}s. Over the years, Mobians have become the dominant species while Outlanders and humans live in seclusion.

-> '' On that day, mankind received a grim reminder. We lived in fear of the Titans and were disgraced to live in these cages we called walls.''

* The setting of ''WebAnimation/HumansBGone'' is dominated by giant insects & arachnids who, for the most part, regard "firegubs" (their slang for humans) as nothing more than pests.