The Wild

[demoman_chaos]

Humanity has lost all survival instinct thats to domestication. If dropped in the wild few would survive. Which leads me to the next paragraph.

You have just been stripped down and dropped into the jungle. It is just you and the wild, no tools and no other people. You will be picked up in 1 week.
Would you survive and how would you?

I think I would only because I am inventive. I'd first make a spear, pick some fruit, and go find somewhere to hide from the animals that may mistake me for their next meal. If I can't find a good piece of wood to make a spear I am entirely screwed once a predator comes around (and not of the invisible alien variety). If I can't find fruit, I am done for (unless I get lucky enough to ambush an unsuspecting animal). Chance of me making it is slim, but better than a lot of others.

What about the Escapitsians? How do you think the rest of you would fare?

EDIT: And what if after that week, they couldn't find you? What would you do then?

 

[delet]

Stripped down? Can't I at least keep my pants?

Eh, I'd probably do the same as you: find a way to make a spear out of some wood, then I'd end up dieing after trying to eat raw fish like an idiot.

 

[JRCB]

Start off by breaking up dead trees for wood, then make a fire. Make a container for water, boil it, drink. Then I would find a nice piece of wood, sharpen it, and look for small animals.

Most of my survival training relies on me actually having a bit of stuff.

 

[oppp7]

I'd keep my head down and try to forage a few plants and some water, but I think I could survive a week with barely anything.

Poisonous organisms, on the other hand...

 

[TheNamlessGuy]

DELETED

 

[DeadlyYellow]

Eh, I'd likely seek to make a simple shelter and basic weaponry. After that, establish a fire pit and moisture farm. A week isn't all that long, just got to keep your wits about you.

 

[Lord Mountbatten Reborn]

Lord Mountbatten cannot be separated from his clothing. It is like an extra epidermic layer.

Well, alright, that's only because of a terrible scientific accident that I shall never bring up ever again.

OT: I'd start off by cloning myself (yes, I have the ability to do that at will), and because I am unimpeded by your foolish "moral standards", I would have no qualms whatsoever about eating the produced clones. I could then fashion their various internal components into weapons, shelter, festive jewellery and so on and so forth.

 

[Brandon237]

Shelter first, fresh water next, food last. You could survive the whole week without food, would be unpleasant, but food is not important for a one week stay with nature.

So I would build or find some basic shelter, climb a tree to find a stream, get water and then find a fruit that I am sure isn't poisonous.

 

[eggy32]

I probably wouldn't survive but I'd try. I'd sharpen some rocks to use as daggers or knives. Wouldn't bother with all the spear business as I can't throw spear like objects very well. Not to mention in the heat of battle with an animal I'm sure my accuracy would be terribly bad. Perhaps some darts would be better.

Then I make a fire and cook the animal I'd killed. Maybe find a bunch of leaves that don't look too poisonous and wash them in a river if possible to at least have some sort of healthy food.

Despite all that I'd probably get killed in my sleep by something.

 

[Wildcard5]

I would end up surviving, but that does not mean that I would be in any way "living". I would first try to make a mace type of weapon out of a tree limb some stripped bark and a stone, but if that does not work out I would just use the tree limb (a reasonably sized one, of corse). With my weapon in hand I would procede to find or, if necessary, make a shelter within 3 hours. After I have a shelter I would attempt to make a fire and keep it going for the week. With the fire I would have heat and an even better weapon/tool, a torch. After all that survival would be as simple as finding a good water source, a few edible plants, and defending my self from the local fauna. All that said my chances are still 50/50 though due to the numerous dangers posed by a jungle setting (poisonous animals and plants, infections and illnesses, unpredictable weather, and parasites).

 

[Dags90]

The loss of survival "instincts" probably has more to do with how heavily social humans are, not modern technology. This is something that precedes our individual species. Our near ancestors didn't rely on "instinct" anymore than we do, they relied on social teachings and collective and past experiences. Learning is much more adaptive than instinct. All higher apes have no swimming instinct, which is very rare for mammals. They've coped by either avoiding water, or learning to swim and passing that information socially.

I understand that you probably didn't mean biological instincts, but I hate imprecise terminology. As it is, social learning is extremely adaptive. If you took a sample that was a better example of early humans, a dozen or two, I think most modern people would live pretty long. Probably the majority of them living for a week.

I would probably be seriously ill at the time I was found, but a week isn't a good measure considering how long people can go without food and water, and the reasonably mild climates of jungles.

 

[Dapsen]

Weapon, fire (BIG, frightening fire), clean water, shelter, food, wait.

Yup

 

[Joe Matsuda]

hmmmm....I would go find running water (hopefully not far from where i was left) and wait it out there...

we can survive much longer than a week without food, but only about one without water so...

anyways, I'd probably get eaten by a bear or something, so it doesn't matter...

 

[Helmutye]

I've been camping my whole life, sometimes in some pretty inhospitable areas. My parents taught me a lot about how to get along in the wild, and I've read quite a bit about it myself. For one week? I think I could make it for one week. I think that probably anyone here could survive for one week--if you can find water you can live for one week just sitting under a tree next to a river. You'll be pretty hungry and weak when they pick you up, but you'll be alive. And knowing that you will be rescued in a week is a huge advantage--you don't have to waste energy wandering around trying to find help.

My strategy would be to build a fire and then set out a bunch of smaller bits of light--burning twigs or something--and use them to catch insects. Insects are very nutritious and plentiful, and with just a few small lights you can catch more than enough to sustain yourself for a long time. Obviously, if you were out there for several weeks or months you would need additional nourishment and vitamins and whatnot, but for simple energy sustenance I think the bug light is the way to go.

If you're stuck out there during a time of year when there aren't bugs, things would be a bit more difficult. If you were naked and lost during the winter, survival would be very, very difficult--you'd need a fire and shelter immediately, and clothing soon after, or you wouldn't last long enough for other concerns to be important. If you can get leaves--this would work for autumn or winter--and find a way to bag them up and hold them against your skin, they actually work well as insulation--if you have a coat, you can greatly increase its warmth by filling it up with dead leaves and zipping it up. You'd need to make sure to dry them out first, of course.

From what I've learned, unless you know what you're doing hunting animals is usually a bad way to go because it uses so much energy. If you get yourself a spear and go out chasing deer and rabbits and whatnot you're just going to tire yourself out and waste calories. The idea you need to keep in mind in a survival situation is get maximum nutrition for minimum effort. Fishing would be a good way to go, because you can just sit there and do it. You don't even have to leave camp. If you know how to make traps, you might be able to get rabbits and groundhogs and so forth. I've heard that porcupines are excellent prey for an inexperienced hunter because they are slow and rather dimwitted, and people are tall enough to get around their quills and get them in the head with a heavy stick. If you come across an animal you can certainly try for it, but generally you'd be better off finding something that sits still.

Edit: Oops! I just noticed you specified jungle in the situation. Then I would definitely go for bugs! And some heavy and/or sharp for protection would be a requirement. But I guess clothes would be unnecessary. You would probably want to set up some sort of hammock or something, though, because lying on the ground is a bad idea in the jungle.

 

[Lust]

I'd start off by making camp and weapons. Then I'd go searching for food. Come back and make a fire, so, I can boil some water and cook my food.

Sleep, repeat.

 

[Blindswordmaster]

Thank God I've watched every episode of Man vs. Wild. Now 'm fully prepared to survive in the wild. I'd probably try to make a spear and do some hunting. If that doesn't pan out, I'm sure I could survive for a week without food; I've build up a respectable reserve. I just need to find clean water. Then I'd use my sock as a filter and eat a raw salmon.

 

[Czargent Sane]

one can go three weeks without food, so I wouldn't really worry about that as much as food, water, shelter. I think I'd fair pretty well because of my general knowledge and the fact that I would at least ruin the day of anything making a meal of me

 

[child of lileth]

I'd make tools and some sort of defensive thing out of whatever I can first. Then find food. Then work on warmth and shelter (warmth assuming it's not a jungle or an outback).

I'd do okay as long as there's nothing huge as far as things that would instinctively attack. But I doubt I'd be able to keep healthy physically the entire week.

 

[gabe12301]

Because people can live with no food 4 more than a week I would just use my shoes to boil water to make it drinkable. and relax in a tree 4 the week so I wouldn't waste my precious energy.(If I didn't get picked up I would make a huge amount of figure 4 traps and eat rats and squirrels. and still stay in my tree most of the time.)or just use a satelite phone.

 

[gabe12301]

I would bring a battery powered dvd player with a man vs wild collection and that would hopefully solve all of my problems.