People are the most ill-equipped animals(for wilderness survival)

Discussion in 'Biology & Genetics' started by Oniw17, Feb 17, 2009.

  1. Enmos Valued Senior Member

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    Hmm I hope you don't mind me being a skeptic. I don't think you can avoid being clawed by putting up your elbows. And if a Grizzly wants to flip you over, you flip over..

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    There's not too much a human can do against that kind of strength.
    I'd say fight back if all else fails. The bear might just be surprised, but I wouldn't count on it.

    True, that won't work if he's already considering you food. But do bears actually hunt people (apart from Polar bears) ?

    Yep, and keep your camp clear of any food.
     
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  3. Orleander OH JOY!!!! Valued Senior Member

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    If a bear thinks you are dead, why wouldn't it eat you?
     
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  5. Enmos Valued Senior Member

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    Because humans are not on the menu. Bears attack humans because they feel threatened.
    Most large predators will attack as a first response to being startled. Sort of an 'offense is the best defense' strategy.
     
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  7. Orleander OH JOY!!!! Valued Senior Member

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    ??? Bears eat meat.
     
  8. Enmos Valued Senior Member

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    But not humans. An exception is the Polar bear, which reportedly hunts humans as a foodsource.

    Also, bears are omnivores first.
     
  9. Orleander OH JOY!!!! Valued Senior Member

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    doesn't that mean meat and plants?
     
  10. Enmos Valued Senior Member

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    Yes. But it highly depends on their location. Some bears almost solely live off berries, plants and roots, while others have access to fish. They are opportunists.

    Let me see if I can find something on Grizzly diet...

    This will do: What Do Grizzly Bears Eat?
     
  11. joepistole Deacon Blues Valued Senior Member

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    What do Grizzly Bears eat? Humans wearing dinner bells!
     
  12. Orleander OH JOY!!!! Valued Senior Member

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    right, when they have the opportunity to eat a person, wouldn't they take it?
    Its kinda like saying bears don't eat sloth. Well, if they were in their environment and they had the opportunity.....
     
  13. Enmos Valued Senior Member

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    I happens, but not as a rule. Usually bears are aware of humans way before the humans are aware of them, and they keep clear of the humans. But sometimes a bear is surprised and attacks in self-defense.
     
  14. TW Scott Minister of Technology Registered Senior Member

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    Actually there is evidence that to most bears humans are not tasty. I mean there are meats that we humans just do not like to eat as they are just nasty or an acquired taste.
     
  15. StrangerInAStrangeLand SubQuantum Mechanic Valued Senior Member

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    Many people care about it until they find they can't do it. Some die trying.

    I'd wager more were killed by someone(s) in their own tribe than an enemy tribe.
     
  16. Oniw17 ascetic, sage, diogenes, bum? Valued Senior Member

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    In that situation, even if everyone knew everything there is to know about how to live off the land, most people would still be screwed since the land surrounding the average city doesn't generally provide enough food(food that can be renewed after the supply is exhausted for the amount of people who live in the average city. Unless you were lucky enough to live in an area where there are farms within a few hours walking distance. The amount of people who survived really wouldn't be a measure of how well a person could survive in the wilderness, as it would be a city experiencing famine(which happens all the time, almost always with some survivors), not the wilderness.
     
  17. StrangerInAStrangeLand SubQuantum Mechanic Valued Senior Member

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    This topic reminds me of a man who was jetskiing on 1 of the Great Lakes, ran out of power & couldn't get to shore. When they found him, he was dehydrated due to thinking there was no water to drink.
     
  18. Orleander OH JOY!!!! Valued Senior Member

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    How the hell did they do that taste test?
     
  19. fedr808 1100101 Valued Senior Member

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    There was this great sign i saw about a bear warning on a hiking trail.
    The beginning said to always bring pepper spray or mace.
    Towards the end it said you should look at bear poop to see which kind of bear was nearby.
    It said that black bear poop smelled like fruit and berries, and Grizzly bear poop smells like pepper spray or mace.

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  20. Fraggle Rocker Staff Member

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    Very unlikely. Humans are a pack-social species like most of the other hominoids. The pack-social instinct is the engine of survival for the pack: every member instinctively relies on and cares about his pack-mates. He would be more likely to risk his life fighting a lion for its kill to bring back to camp, than to kill a pack-mate.

    The ten-thousand-year history of civilization has been a struggle to overcome that pack-social instinct: to live in harmony and cooperation with anonymous strangers and to avoid regarding other tribes as hated enemies. In other words, to transform into a herd-social species.

    Some animals allow their young to die during hard times. The adults can always have more babies but the babies won't survive if the adults starve to death. I don't know if humans have ever done that.
     
  21. orcot Valued Senior Member

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    Chinese abort their daughters if they can only have 1 child so they want a boy so he could support them when they grow older, In india girls get aborted because the family has to pay rather large amounds if the girl get's married.

    In the west they abort their unborn (not that often) when they show signs of deformaties that would make them mentally handicapt. (like down syndrome)
     
  22. Orleander OH JOY!!!! Valued Senior Member

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    I would imagine Neadertals and other early tribes practiced infanticide in times of low food.
    Weren't there rumours of children being cannibalised in China during times of famine after WWII?
     
  23. Red Devil Born Again Athiest Registered Senior Member

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    We have earth, we have nature, we have animals = all three equate - then we have humans, there is no place here for us, we don't fit in.
     

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