We've all heard the advice that when faced with a predator you should play dead. The idea being is they won't see you as a threat and leave you alone.
Now my gut instinct is that's bollocks and they just think yum yum free food.
But what do I know? I'm unlikely to face anything worse than a grumpy badger. So for those of you likely to stumble upon a bear, is it good advice or just there to give you a quick death?
Great advice. The bear will just walk off
Good advice. The bear will just maul you a liitle
Ok advice. You might lose a leg but if you keep still while he's eating it you'll survive
Bad advice. Mummy bear will drag you back to he cave for her cubs to practice disemboweling
Wise advice. Your death will be quicker if you keep still.
If it's black, fight back. If it's brown, lie down. If it's white, say goodnight.
Black bears are usually the smallest variety - though some are quite large - and tend to be the least confrontational, UNLESS it's a momma bear who feels her cubs are threatened. Most of the time, black bears will either run away if you make a bunch of noise or ignore you if they are after food and close to getting it. They can still kill you easily if they want to, and can outrun and outclimb you.
Brown bears are usually Grizzly bears and are more aggressive, so playing dead is the best way not to startle or threaten them, but doesn't guarantee that they won't maul you. You need to curl up in a tight ball to protect your neck and stomach, as if they open you up in either location, you will die. Anywhere else and you can probably survive.
White bears are polar bears, and they are extremely aggressive and the only bears that actively hunt humans. They are also enormous. If you encounter one relatively close in the wild and survive, that's more the exception rather than the rule. Most times, they're going to kill you and eat you if the can get to you - and it takes a lot to stop a polar bear.
“Play dead” in the presence of a predator is an awful lot like “tuck your head between your knees” during a plane crash. Both have literally NO effect on the ultimate outcome. “Experts” just like to tell people to do SOMETHING to mitigate panic and hopefully reduce their ability to make a bad situation worse. Your first thought was pretty much spot on. Bollocks, indeed.
Depends on predator. For those "shrimp and pizza" predators with favor for human children meat is this advice irrelevant.
Generally bears and wolves will attack you if you lie on ground you or you look in their eyes. Being a hard pray, shouting and facing them without eye contact is the best option. Running away causes always an attack.
11.8K opinions shared on Society & Politics topic.
It can but will also still leave you getting hurt or killed. Black bears will start eating you. Coyotes will start eating you. A mooses blind ass will probably accidentally trample you. A grizzly MIGHT leave you alone after savagely mauling you or biting and clawing you. A polar bear will eat you. Etc.
Playing dead can be useful advice depending on the situation and the type of predator. For instance, with certain bear encounters, like with grizzly bears, playing dead might make them lose interest, especially if they feel threatened and you're not invading their space. However, this isn't always effective with black bears, which might see it as an opportunity for a meal. It's essential to assess the situation and follow expert guidelines for different wildlife encounters. Still, it's always safer to stay informed on recommended practices for specific animals if you're in areas where encounters are possible. 🐻
In the US, there is a saying to cope with bear encounters:
-If it's black, fight back
-If it's brown, lay down
-If it's white, say goodnight!
So against a brown bear, that's your best bet. But while black bears are very non-confrontational, they're also clever opportunists and if you give them a chance for an easy kill by playing dead, they'll come over there and snap your neck.
As for polar bears, there's very little you can do. So if you come across one in the wild, you might as well make your peace with whatever deity you worship and reflect on all the good times in your life.
If the bear is brown, lie down. If the bear is black, fight back. If the bear is white, say goodnight.
The problem with playing dead when you see a predator, is that lots of predators are perfectly happy to eat dead animals as well as live ones. So playing dead could just make the predator think, "Oh look, an easy meal!"
When facing CERTAIN bears, playing dead is a good way to go. But even with those, you don't want to just sprawl out. You want to curl up into a ball, protect your vitals, and, if you have a backpack on, try to have the backpack facing toward the bear. Hopefully the bear will tear the hell out of your backback, and go away before it gets all the way through the backpack and starts tearing the hell out of you.
Only in the cave man days now adays when you see it happing there is a line of men that goes around the block the sad part is as you drive by on how many car windshields have parking tickets on them sometime the cars on both sides of the street for blocks and blocks
Looking at the picture included, looking at who is asking the question, I just can't help it lol: It looks like you're talking about "Man or Bear" debate...
Yum yum free food you say, I would agree, especially in the case of Man
Bears are about the the only bad animal Australia doesn't have so I am unable to express an opinion on bears.
However it def doesn't work with dingos. This girl was sunbathing, and effectively playing dead, but the dingo seems to have thought her ass was yum yum. He walked right past some other girls who weren't playing dead.
@purplepoppy Yes, you are correct purplepoppy. Once I think I have killed her, I always shoot her in the head afterwards just to make sure, and that way if she was playing dead, I can make sure she was REALY DEAD! 🤣🤣🤣
this man used to hang around with bears and film documentaires. People told him to stop. one day a bear ate him and his girlfriend said play dead as it was eating him alive. research the bear man.
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