Let me first say that a "Ancient Point of Divergence" forum would be cool.
This was inspired by the plausable sentient alien thread. If Homo Sapiens evolved, what species would be the best candidate for evolving sentience? Dinosaurs aren't an option, because they were killed long before homo sapiens existed.
I think perhaps birds would be the best candidate. Parrots are highly intelligent compared to other animals. As with homo sapiens, some kind of bird would have to change evolutionarily if it were to evolve sentience.
I think perhaps more developed legs. Parrots can already manipulate objects with their feet, and they can also use their beaks to manipulate objects. Perhaps with the ability to fly, their feet would evolve into a cross between being usable for walking, and for manipulating objects. The beak would probably also change to be able to manipulate objects.
If it seems like I'm getting too crazy about the idea, birds are cute in my opinion, I just like them. Bats have small hand-like things at the end of their wings, although this could be because they are mammals, it's possible that the ends of a bird's wings could evolve small hand-like apendages.
Anyways, what do you think would be the likeliest candidate for the rulers of the earth if monkeys remained monkeys? The thing though with monkeys is that they have a social structure, essencial for sentience possibly. Monkeys though, early in their evolution, might have been solitary creatures, but out of necessity, might have developed group structures. Parrots tolerate being around eachother though, I guess.