These Survival Myths Could Actually Get You Killed | DEBUNKED
Our love of reckless recreation, and our fascination with ‘lost in the wilderness’ movies means that almost all of us could reel off at least a few survival tactics. The trouble is, are they reliable or could some of them actually make things considerably worse.
Join us as we explore Survival Myths That Could Actually Get You Killed!
#debunked #survivalmyths
What are the 5 most important survival skills?
What is a survival tip?
How to survive in life?
Wilderness survival myths that can get you killed
Is it possible to survive in the wilderness?
How do you survive stranded in the wilderness?
What does it take to survive in the wild?
CHAPTERS:
Should You Light A Fire In A Cave?
Does Alcohol Warm You Up?
Does Boiling Water Make It Safe To Drink?
Can You Drink Water From A Cactus?
Should You Burn, Salt Or Rip Leeches Off?
CREDITS:
Stu K - Researcher / Writer | Illustrator | Producer | Presenter
Mark W - Researcher | Writer
Ross W - Illustrator | Editor | Animator
Robin M - Guest VO
MUSIC CREDITS
Epidemic Sounds
SOURCES
WATER QUALITY LINKS
mywaterquality.ca.gov/habs/wh...
www.nature.com/articles/s4159...
www.livescience.com/55435-doe...
www.nytimes.com/2008/01/01/he...
www.popsci.com/so-youve-been-...
www.smithsonianmag.com/blogs/...
www.theguardian.com/lifeandst...
www.qvh.nhs.uk/wp-content/upl...
www.desertmuseum.org/books/nh...
arizonadailyindependent.com/2...
specialtyproduce.com/produce/...
www.lpi.usra.edu/education/ex...
www.cdc.gov/healthywater/emer...
www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/h...
mywaterquality.ca.gov/habs/wh...
epa.illinois.gov/topics/water...
content.govdelivery.com/accou...
What's the highest you have voluntarily jumped from? (no parachutes!) NEW VIDEO: At What Height Does A Fall Become Fatal? DEBUNKED kzhead.info/sun/mpl9equGpZ2Maps/bejne.html
Highest I've done is 14 feet while bouldering. I did it over and over again because I was determined to perfect the landings. The first time I fell from such a height was on accident and gave me a painful ankle twist
From a tree
15 metres jumping into the sea from a cliff (something I used to do with my friends every summer when I was younger). 3 metres falling from a different cliff while rock climbing (broke both my heels on that one but I did roll on landing and my legs were OK. Not easy to ride my motorcycle to the medical centre afterwards though).
Onto ground? Second story window Into water? I want to say 21 feet
Several times in my childhood I'd jump partial or even entire flights of stairs. Fortunately I was never hurt, but it could have hurt if I were unlucky enough
me at 3am wrapped up in bed: interesting.
This is literally me rn 😂😂😂
Same@@benjievarela5430
It's exactly 3am I'm crying 😭😭
You need to be prepared for when the wifi goes down and the air con breaks.
I love whoever invented Indoors because it's where people belong :)
If you are in a place with bears: 1) Have "bear bells" on your backpack so you don't surprise a bear. 2) If it is legal carry pepper spray. 3) Learn to tell the difference between grizzly bear scat and others. You can recognize grizzly bear scat because it smells peppery and has bells in it.
😂
took me a sec 😂😂
haha that was good
I like the cut of yer jib, me laddo..
This f'ing guy, lol
“Cactus juice. It’ll quench ya! It’s the QUENCHIEST!!
Nothing's quenchier!
i knew some one here would make the joke!
Who lit Toph on fire?
@@dylankoch1757😅
I love you
That final tip is an absolute must. Always let someone know where you are going and for how long. My grandpa died because no one knew where he went an so no one came to his rescue.
The best advice he didn't give is, prepare for what could happen. Most people who need rescue aren't lost in the woods, they're stranded. They're usually medically stranded. A GPS locator beacon and a basic survival kit (with tarp and food) will go a long way to saving your life. One other myth, staying put isn't always a good idea. You're better off finding an open area, a meadow, a river bank etc. where aircraft can see you.
True. I forget the details but I do remember a case of a plane that crashed into the Amazon jungle and the only person to survive was a young teen/woman because she started walking and trying to find a way towards help. The search aircraft could not see any of the wreck through the thick canopy. When rescuers arrived at the crash site based on her information there was evidence that there had been other survivors but they all eventually perished because they stayed at the crash site. .
Les Stroud (survivorman) discusses this a lot. For what I could understand, if help may come isn't bad to stay foot, but there may reach a point where you'll have to make the decision to move. Exploring the surroundings is generaly good.
@@VideoCesar07 You would think in the day and age where they can read the words on a stop sign from outer space and with GPS on every electronic device under the sun, that they can locate an aircraft in a 12 hour window.. After Kobe's death, I would not discount other reasons that they "didn't find the aircraft".
"Most people aren't lost, they're medically stranded" and "Prepare for what COULD happen" is honestly such good advice.
He said this in the end.
2:44 As someone who does a lot of outdoors activities, I can confirm that fire will crack rock quite easily, especially in areas prone to freezing or heavy rain. In fact, I've used fire often to help split rocks when trying to build up a fire pit.
Thanks for adding your own experience and thanks for watching!
It's also good to have a flamethrower when in the wilderness, to start fires and ward off bears.
@@raylopez99solid advice!
🤣@@raylopez99
Where's the Tyrone Biggums GIF when you need it?
I’ve always been told to prefer moving water vs still water in the wild
that is true in most cases, but its good to filter anything you drink through even something as simple as even a cloth before boiling it (preferably something much better if you can) just to remove as much foreign particulate as possible, and the better the filter you can make, the safer the water will be
@@bugsmith9751 charcoal from the fire, sand if you've not pounded it all for being dumb enough to get stuck, yeah, as much, as much clean and fine stuff that you can. If totally SOL and needing water in some deserts, go for the pools that you might find with larvae swimming in them - the ones empty could be cyanide contaminated and well, dead is kind of bad for one's health and really wrecks your weekend plans. And if with me, when I stop joking, we're in deep shit.
Unless the water is already warm, a dude drank running river water and got parasites in his brain 🧠
Unless you live in switzerland, it's still a good idea to boil or filter it out anyway you can.
The instant you are lost in the deep woods, at sea, atop a high mountain, or just trying to locate your car in a large parking lot, drink as much piss as possible. - Bear Grylls (possibly)
I can't even count the number of times I've been lost in the WalMart parking lot, begging someone for their piss.
This is actually another myth- most piss is too salty to hydrate you
@@Elleore In one episode he persuaded a celebrity to drink hers and it smelled too bad for him to continue. He concluded he only liked his own! There's an insulting moment. It would seem you should only drink enough, when lost and on limited water, to not have much extra to piss after perspiring and working your organs. This isn't the time to "stay fully hydrated." A piece of advice I read was with limited water, DO NOT EAT. Your body needs water to digest food. You can survive a lot longer on no food than no water. A good use of urine on another show was soaking headgear in it to cool you. (One guy in another program had his wife put bilge water up his rear with a hose because, he claimed, it wouldn't hurt him if in his intestines. I wonder if that was true, or if we just didn't see how hard it was for him to clear the microbes from his system.)
Ah, refreshing! And to think, I'm not even lost!
Very likely you harm yourself more by drinking your own piss rather than benefitting from it. Sure, urine has water in it, that's what we're here for, BUT It's basically the garbage can on your body. You take in all matter of _literal shit_ when you drink that ranging fom metric fktons of salt to all kinds of toxins your kidneys wanted to get rid of And you tryna put that back right where it came from Drink your piss _only in dire situations at your own peril_
I'm surprised you didn't mention filtering the water before boiling it. That's what I was taught to do to get rid of stuff like small particles of mud and algae. It makes the water not only safer to drink but also tastier.
This is how I was trained. Get your water from a moving source (like a stream) but always pump it through a filter.
You forgot about the cactus that Grow “prickly pairs” not only the fruit it holds are edible but the cactus it’s self too.
Correct and the fruit is supposed to be very tasty, and according to the University of Nevada's College of Agriculture, Biotechnology & Natural Resources you can even eat the cactus pads themselves! extension.unr.edu/publication.aspx?PubID=2157#:~:text=Most%20prickly%20pear%20tunas%20and,or%20eaten%20in%20a%20salad.
They actually sell cactus paddles in the grocery store in the southwest regions of the United States. Sometimes you could find them up here in the Pacific Northwest at certain stores as well.
The _best_ raw vegan cheesecake I ever made had prickly pear as the fruit. At a rejuvenation center cafe in Arizona, a more than 100-yr-old cactus right next to us split down the middle and collapsed in a few seconds while we were eating lunch. All the ripe fruit (estimated > 30 lb) had to be immediately harvested, and I was a lucky recipient.
@@altosack nice maybe I might make one.
Cactus juice is the quenchiest. The desert looks like an ocean afterwards and your companions look like they are on fire. 😉
Another trick you can try, for the cave shelter, is to find a nearby dry spot you can build a fire. Build it there. Gather large rocks and put them IN the fire to warm. Then using sticks, transport the rocks back to the cave. They will hold heat for quite a while and help heat the cave (which should stay warm for a bit) without the cracking or smoke dangers. Just watch out as some rocks COULD explode. Id let them heat then go out to get them instead of hovering over the fire
Clever!
Building on this, don’t ever gather your rocks for warming from near a water source as this heavily increases the chance of the rock exploding.
@NewLegacy93 agreed! Also no rocks with moss on them as they retain water
They tend to explode when you superheat them when they're wet, right? Am I remembering that correctly? On that same note, you can use those heated rocks to boil and therefore cleanse water.
@Thriving_in_Exile correct. Rocks with water content explode when super heated and when a hot rock is dropped into water it can boil it. Easiest way of getting safe water is to keep putting hot rocks in until it's been boiling for a bit
I used to watch survival shows on Discovery when I was younger. Bear Grills was the worst. In a sense of a show it was alright, but he was constantly risking injuries and for survival it is a big no no. Even a small wound can be a source of infection, so you need to be careful. And that dude would always try things that you can't recommend for an average person trying to survive.
I believe he recommended drinking your own urine 🤔
As a last resort. I don't think he recommended doing as a hobby. @@DebunkedOfficial
@@Martin-ef4xh 😆
It was a show, and EVERYTHING was staged and fake... All "reality" shows is faked and staged always.
There was a Bear Grylls episode where he collected some honey using smoke, only he did it very badly and got stung, saying something like "well bears like honey." He then reacted very badly to the stings and was very unwell. This little extract made me realise that he is an idiot who does not understand what he is doing. Much better watching Ray Mears.
Great video, however I think the best but of advice was right at the end, let someone know exactly where you're going and when you're due back. A certain film which involved a guy cutting his own arm off made this message loud and clear!
Still haven't brought myself to watch that 😬
@@DebunkedOfficial The scene where he cuts off his arm isn't that graphic, though.
@@MatthewTheWanderer When he cuts through the main nerve running down his arm! that was pretty brutal 😬😬😬
@@DebunkedOfficial read the news story after it happened, what previews I saw of the film confirmed the news stories, reckless dumbass that put himself stupidly into the stupidest of dangerous positions and conditions, with a movie trying to turn recklessness into heroism. Hell, if I was to be out alone, I carried a pistol and two spare magazines (which was well, all of my spares). Three rounds fired in slow regular succession is a distress call, repeat every minute. I'd consider two repeats and wait 10 - 20 minutes, as well, two spare magazines and all. Three whistle blasts, the same, interestingly, hard to run out of ammo for those. On water, have smoke flares and hopefully aerial flares and a horn, with whistle backup.
I discovered this channel a few weeks back and proceeded to spend the rest of the day watching every single one of your videos. Love the content, keep it up
Thank you so much! And really happy to hear you watched our back catelogue too ☺️
Rest of the day watching ads is more like it. I got 3 ads before the video even started.
Me too 😊
@@ct92404 I believe the number of ads you are shown is ascociated with your user profile 🤔 (previous videos watched, your tolerance for watching ads etc) I could be wrong. But thank you for watching our video! 👍
This channel is very interesting!!
Don't know how many times I've heard people say or advise that if you get lost, don't move, but wait to be rescued. When I was 12, I decided to follow a creek to my grandparents house after playing at their neighbors. I didn't tell anyone. I couldn't tell you how long I walked. I kept telling myself that it was just a little farther. Then I came to a cornfield. I could see the road on the other side of it. I knew there wasn't a cornfield on my grandparents road. So I walked out to the road and was able to see my grandparents house way down the mountain. I could also see how to get back. I could have gotten lost. I could have gotten hurt. And no one would have had a clue as to where I was.
That depends. If you are near a stranded vehicle, then don't wander off. You were following a creek, so you just could have back tracked - not even sure I would say you were lost.
@@Cheepchipsable if I had gotten hurt, no one would have known where to look.
@@Cheepchipsable If you only judge being lost by whether you managed to get yourself out of it when you had no idea where you were, then nobody is lost until the rescue arrives or they expire.
@@dizzysdoings Which of course is the point. Kids do that all too frequently but so do adults. My nephew told me about the rescue of a man he knew, from the Joshua Tree National Park after several days. He was to the extreme of writing farewell messages on his hat! His strategies were to make SOS markings for rescuers, then give up and lie motionless in the shade of a big rock, conserving his resources. I think the hardest part of survival is knowing when to admit defeat, and staying where you are. People tend to think if they just go a little farther....
I've seen that documentary of a plane crash that was waiting to be rescued for weeks, they resorted to cannibalism and later someone butchered his sister to pack some meat and with friend, they went to the journey far away snacking on sis... He found settlement the NEXT DAY. Some people would rather eat each other than get up from their asses and try walking a few meters rather than wait to be saved.
Slugs are not leeches. (more slugs were shown than leeches) This is exactly the problem with survival books. They rarely generate the level of understanding required. Fire in a cave? Depends. What size, shape, and material is the cave? Obviously fire has a variety of uses, and a cave is just a void. No cave is 100% safe, nor is there a flat answer to the question that is always true. Keep your wits about you, and don't panic so you can assess each situation intelligently. Bottom line, Even if you do the wrong thing; your odds are always better trying SOMETHING rather than doing nothing in a survival situation. Make a choice and commit. You are far more likely to poison yourself burning random materials than suffocate yourself from smoke inhalation, so literally ALL variables should be considered. Weigh the risks and your options, and make the judgement call. If you are going to die of thirst, it might be worth risking contaminated water. Otherwise, keep looking. Find something you don't know if it's edible? There are techniques to determine if a food source is safe, but following the by the book methods will lead to starving to death long before you can determine the edibility of the unknown thing. Sometimes you may just have to take a calculated risk, but that doesn't mean to just throw caution to the wind and gamble. When you don't know and have to make a call: Use some common sense and take your best guess.
Thanks Davy Crockett
Haha you are thinking! YT videos are for quick views, they are not for thinking and accuracy! Anyone who is into survival has better information than this video for casual people who are horrified when their AC dies.
best and most practical comment I've seen in these comment section.
And careful if there's coal in that cave... or you might turn the exact same shade.
"Even if you do the wrong thing; your odds are always better trying SOMETHING rather than doing nothing in a survival situation. Make a choice and commit." Unless you're actually straight-up LOST. Then, choosing to do nothing (or at least, choosing not to going wandering) genuinely is the right thing to do.
My favorite survival myth is, that collecting fire-wood takes no time.
Along with starting a fire with the dry material you will easily locate! I've never seen any survival show recommending setting your tires on fire to create a smoke signal, or indeed in winter snowbound on a logging road using your car's gas to set a tree on fire.
Bear Grylls left the chat.
He would have drank his own urine
Bear Grylls is a fake
So essentially, if you want to avoid a dangerous situation, don’t be in a dangerous situation?
Yeah, I really laughed at, "The way to find water in the desert is to not go into the desert". LOL!!!
@randomgrinn It was more, "The way to find water in the desert is to bring it with you."
You may not know you are in a dangerous situation, like people who become enveloped in a sudden local snow squall that had not been predicted, took the wrong turn, had car trouble, anything where there is no cell phone reception. Even if you spend your life cowering in your basement, something bad could happen.
Wow, thanks captain obvious... guess we should just all camp in our houses for the restbof our lives, huh
@FitzgeraldStanburyWeissV Did you watch the video? @rheverend is giving a good synopsis of the video. It's also a good working definition of the word "planning".
I'm surprised survival tips for all the quicksand that I've been led to believe by tv & movies is out there wasn't covered off on in this clip. Hopefully my amazing luck will continue & I will keep on encountering it at my current rate of exactly never.
My tour guide in Alaska, a positive fount of misinformation, told us a woman and man ventured off the bike path next to downtown Anchorage and the man watched the woman sink into the quicksand. A rescue chopper lowered a rope she put around her waist and her top half was torn from her bottom half. Didn't try to slide her out sideways, just straight up until her spine broke, it seems. I guess the moral of that story is avoid idiots. She also warned us about one way sidewalks downtown, of which there were no signs. And that even though in late May there were hardly any people downtown at all, you would be killed by out of control cars so be ready to leap to safety as they came onto the sidewalk. Her moral was you don't appreciate how big Alaska is so they can't put up signs in the quite small downtown. Same for the gangs in Fairbanks in late May, when we saw only one person and nobody hostile. I guess the idea was tourists would believe anything. The results for me was believing nothing, except I never want to use that tour company again.
@@653j521 I'd likely have returned without that guide, when questioned, report that the guide wandered off and likely became a victim of the drop bears we were warned about. I don't do either dipshits in the woods or assholes on ice.
2:00 Yeah, I remember being taught, years ago, in a survival class, that smoke tends to follow the air currents at the Top of the room, and not so much the ones at the bottom. Good advice...lol
yeah in some scenarios lighting a fire will make you colder by creating an updraft that pulls cold air towards you.
That's because smoke rises. Unlike the graphic they used where it skirts along the floor. Based on the air currents shown when the fire was at the back of the cave, lighting a fire at the front would be safer. There's a lot of variables to this one that makes simple advice very difficult. But having the fire near the front is probably better in most situations. The smoke is less likely to build to dangerous levels, you're close to the entrance if it does start getting hard to breathe, animals will be driven away by the fire before they try entering the cave, and any people looking for you are more likely to see the light of the fire. Heat is not the only reason to light a fire.
Thank you for including altitude affecting boiling point of water. I am a "survivalist" and teach this to those who come up to the mountain I have my homestead on who stumble across the homestead in dire needs due to being lost. To compound the problem, my homestead is in the high desert mountains of Northern Nevada. In shady areas, there are shadowed locations with "stale" ice during the winter - dirty glacial deposits of about 1 meter square in some places, but definitely not safe to just melt and drink. "My" mountain is 2,400 meters high (8,000 ft) and the boiling point of water is pretty low compared to sea level. The homestead is 1,900 meters (6,200 ft) up the mountain... we use well water (certified "fresh/safe to drink w/o filtration, but we still run it through a carbon filter. It's still heavy in minerals, but no pathogens have ever been detected in well-service testing). We get lots of so-called "explorers/hikers" each summer who enter our 7 hectares (~16 acres) property even with the No Trespassing - Private Property signage. BUT, when people are on the verge of death due to exposure and lack of supplies, they see those signs as signs of (hopeful) safety. Might I remind the reader the homestead is in Nevada... we have firearms and do not take trespassing lightly should one arrive with ill-intent. If one is in need, we happily feed, clothe, assist, lend a place for them to have shelter during any storms that may be occuring, and give first aid, of course... but if they try to take advantage, they are sent away in direct correlation to their lack of gratitude. Some stay on to help with upkeep of the farm and silver mine on property for a week or so in their gratitude for our aid. I didn't intend on this becoming an essay... but people lost in the wild need to know there ARE people who live in the wilderness and please, by all means treat these homesteaders with respect. Respect goes a long way. Disrespect of our hospitality doesn't bode well for those seeking their way back to civilization. The best those people will get is a point in the right direction... thieves, thugs and hostile "losties" or "flatlanders" as we call them are dealt with less regard and assistance. Since we have a private silver mine, we also have earthmoving equipment up here. Please do not tempt fate when dealing with survivalist-preppers who offer aid in your time of need. We're generous, but ruthless just the same. What you get is based on your courtesy. (EDIT: fixed metric conversions of altitude)
I assume that a certain proportion of these individuals are simply never seen or heard from again... 🤐 ETA: I do not live anywhere near Nevada and I prefer large urban areas, but the advice is still valid.
cool fanfic
"Don't go too big too soon." Yup we have fitness gurus and social media influencers attempting long hikes in sandals with little to no water just to take a few pictures and they end up stuck somewhere requiring valuable sources to be used.
There were times when I literally wouldn't go to take a dump without bringing copious water. Anything farther, I'd be lugging a few liters at a minimum and for longer distances, desert or not, I had my water filter along as well. Even today, retired from the Army and 62, I still walk two miles to the store and back for shopping and don't go a step in that direction without at least two liters of water in my pack bladder. And I now live in the capitol of Pennsylvania. Two things are critical in life when going somewhere remote. Water and spare socks. Great to have, a decent knife and maybe some cordage.
I have learned this as I've gotten older, and I am learning to pace myself. I was never an active or fit person to begin with, but then I wound up getting overweight too. In the fall of 2023 I started a regular exercise class at a good gym. It took several weeks for me to understand that it's OK for me NOT to be as strong as some of the others in class, and that I should never push myself too much, like to the point of getting dizzy/sick or hyperventilating. Yet it often feels like my progress is SO slow. I know I will get stronger and better eventually, and it is happening already. But pushing myself too much is something I had to LEARN not to do!
We had a blogger who never visited a foreign country go for a foot walk all across Europe. He was prepared tho, filmed it with a drone and sold a book, then returned to army.
5:00 If you boil the water long enough, And you evaporate, and then recondense it, to keep out other impurities like metals and grit.
In other words, distilled water is pure. Yes, but it is energy intensive.
@@randomgrinn Wellll there are a FEW exceptions. some toxins are actually volatile enough to evaporate then recondense, but not many.
@@marhawkman303 If you let it boil for a bit first, you'll lose most everything with a boiling point lower than water. If you can control the temperature closely (low boil), you can also leave behind most of the stuff with a higher boiling point.
@@jmodified it will be a bit of a struggle to control the temperature of a fire in the wilderness super well, not impossible, but probably too challenging to be practical
@@bugsmith9751 Not so difficult if you're using a clear glass boiling vessel, but yes, quite difficult if you can't see what's happening.
This was really fun to watch! Great work Debunked 👍
Except there are a couple of things not debunked because Militaries around the world are teaching their special forces. Like the whole barrel cactus thing is a myth because US SEAR School teaches the students to CHEW the pulp of the cactus and swallow the juice. I've never heard of a single case of sickness or death from it ever.
Another one is to never drink pee to fight dehydration. Your body wants to get rid of it for a reason, putting it back in only harms you and causes you to dehydrate even faster
If you're lost in an area where there is ice or snow, don't let it melt in your mouth. It will take a lot of heat from your body and hypothermia may result. The barrel cactus is not a good source of water but some other plants are. There's a variety of bamboo that has a lot of water in the stalk. It's safe. I've tasted it and it's good.
the thing with cacti as water sources... is that Yes, they DO store water, but some cacti are inedible. Step one is knowing which cacti are useful.
Line of plants, there's water there and if they're fairly bushy, it's moving water. Or a leaking septic line... ;) Of course, a leaking septic line means there's a house nearby, my luck, it's a highly antisocial guy with a really big shotgun...
Not only will boiling water not remove certain toxins, it will actually make those toxins more concentrated.
yeah boiling is for killing pathogen. if it's an actual poison... that's not usually gonna change.
By an inconsequential fraction, making this meaningless. Boiling is always better.
@@VeritasEtAequitas, how is not removing toxins better than not removing toxins?
@@sm5574 the point was about concentrating them, given the advised brief boiling wouldn't evaporate much of the water. But, your point is valid. Old charcoals from an old fire, some sand if you've not pounded it over getting stuck in the wild SOL, even clean leave that you know aren't toxic (come on people, don't try to filter water through poison oak or strychnine tree leaves!) can help. Probably wouldn't use my clothing, but then, my luck is, as soon as I take off my clothing, every insect that ever was or will be will seek me out.
Funny, doesn't even sound real 🤣 😂 😆
Drinking alcohol to warm up is a classic blunder. You need to light it first, duh.
Well, it does blunt the perception of cold, it's the higher doses that create body heat problems.
I like the passion this guy puts in his prononunciation
😆 Thanks
Though I have never heard it called 'vasso'-dilation, perhaps because my medical qualification was over fifty years ago.
@@johnwilson6721 it took a few takes to get the pronunciation right 👌
I don't have a beer jacket, it's a Bacardigan
Nice 👌
And when it’s raining out it functions as a Rumbrella. You’ll still be wet but you’ll care less.
I'll stick to my rum-duster, thanks 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
I've a whisky taste, alas, I've only a beer goggles budget.
Smart video😀 like to add, In Norway we say. "Its not to late to turn arround" this is when we go to a Mountain or in the forrest. "Its no shame in turning arround is also"a accurate description. Note that a lot of People get lost at sea Ar in the forrest/Mountains here. So be safe!
This was actually surprisingly good, other than the confusion between flint & steel and a ferrorod & striker -- the latter pair is what was shown in the animation and what survivalists are likely to carry.
flint and steel is basically just a common term for ferro rods in modern time, even though its wrong, more people know what they mean if they say flint and steel than if they said ferro rod or metal match
@@bugsmith9751 These are two completely different methods and skills. Lots of people learn both. Using the wrong term is confusing for everyone. No reason to use the wrong one when the right one could have been used instead.
@@mcgeefamilyraleigh they are very different, but seeing as this video is directed more towards people who probably arnt huge on survival, using the term that is most recognizable to them is the best choice most people dont know what a ferro rod is and rather than spending extra time explaining terminology that is not important, its easier to use the term that your target audience will know as for it being confusing for everyone, i knew exactly what he meant, and you seem to have had no confusion your self seeing you corrected it
I've always preferred ginning up a fire bow. Far less irritation and well, who carries ferro rods about in the real world? Primary survival tools, one's senses, especially eyes and ears and that pea between them to figure out what's going on and where and try to fine one's way away from shit's creek, since one's fresh out of boats. Second most important, a good knife. Doesn't have to be some ridiculous Rambo sized crap, I've got a nice 2 1/2" folder, my old field knives from the army were fixed knives with blades between 4 - 6" long. Some parachute cord is nice to have, of course, when you'd really need some, it ain't there, but a crude twine is easily made from foliage. I never could find the National Stock Number for a rock or something (old joke about MRE heater instructions). Something to lug water in is good, got a hydration backpack I don't go far without, it carries a couple of liters in the bladder. And remember, the more crap you carry, the more you'll sweat, the more calories you can't afford you'll burn and the faster you'll tire. I had three packs, carried two empty until I needed them. My large pack had everything for a month, weighed in around 100 pounds, life sucked with it on, didn't go far - just to base/base camp site to stash it for resupply. Week pack, weighed in around 30 - 40 pounds, limited travel duration of maybe 10 - 15 miles tops, the shorter, the better. Day pack, light as possible, had some limited rations, medical supplies, water, 550 cord and a section of folded tape, poncho (because being wet sucks and also doubles as a shelter half) and poncho liner or space blanket (because being cold really sucks and well, can kill you or dull you enough to make you do stupid things), something to make noise with (whistle, even a aluminum canteen cup), spare socks (fuck your feet up, you're done). I'd also usually have a monocular and of course always have my compass and when possible, map. With that, I can typically cover around 30 miles, with some degree of irritation, 20 miles is much better for longer term and well, better to not walk even that far if one can avoid it. Whenever possible, to augment water, I'd have my filter pump, only a few pounds and a total lifesaver. Needless to say, I was quite overjoyed when we went mechanized and eventually went to Strykers.
0:33 = Survival tips that might get you killed (not listed here): 1. You can light a fire with just two sticks = Technically, yes, but most people who haven't been trained on the proper technique or have some string to aid you, will mean you can't get a fire going. 2. Any dry wood works for burning = Wood that is dry can burn well, but if it is rotted or infected with termites or such, it is not going to burn well. Also depending on the sap content in the wood, will heavily determine how long it will burn. 3. You can fish or live off the land by eating berries = Even skilled fishermen, with a fishing rod, struggle to catch a fish, and often catch a small fish depending on where they are. Berries might be nice, but they don't sustain you and you have to avoid eating the white berries as they are poisonous. 4. If you are wet, just stay by the fire = Its actually safer to remove the wet clothing and sit naked by the fire, than it is to sit next to the fire wearing wet clothing. You'll warm up faster and the clothes will dry faster if they aren't on your body. Plus you can hang the clothing closer to the fire to get them to dry faster. 5. After boiling water from a stream, it will taste like tap water = Boiling kills the bacteria and viruses, in things like beaver poop, but it does nothing for the taste. Have to filter it through a charcoal filter or such, to remove a lot of the nasty taste. 6. You should drink some pine needle tea to keep your vitamins up = Pine needles contain a lot of acid and other things, that makes it dangerous to drink needle tea. Yes in a pinch it can be useful, for keeping up vitamins, like vit C, but it should be drunk in moderation. 7. You don't need to bring an eating utensil = Yes some skilled survivalists can carve out a spoon or fork from wood, with just a knife. Most people can't, so unless you intend to eat your hot food with your hands, you need to pack some utensils and preferably a bowl. 8. You can use any old rock to warm up your wet shoes = You need to take rocks that are found outside of the water, as some rocks will soak up some water and then explode violently when heated up.
I do not think they explode from water. I think is going too fast from cold to warm and it depends of the rock type.
@@Ciprian-IonutPanait Nope. Rocks can absorb water. Especially if they sit in water for a long time. Takes a while to saturate them with water. But once saturated, you need to heat the rock gradually to avoid it exploding from the pressure differential. This guy does a pretty good job explaining the process = kzhead.info/sun/YNpmea1pfYJ8ho0/bejne.html
@@lordpalandus11 That is correct that a water saturated rock can explode extremely violently if heated.For a fire ring or cooking, use rocks that are well away from any water.
@@lordpalandus11 Thank you , really interesting. Never heard of this happening. As a note ( based on the test) only one or two types of rock exploded from all of them. Maybe is possible only for some types??? Also as a note I only saw people using rocks on camp fires only in movies. Technically it could help maitain the heat longer. That being said if you have that much time on your hand you could get some clay and build a makeshift fireplace extremely fast. A simple one only takes 1-2 hours. Also since it directs the smoke through a funnel you also solve the smoke issue.
@@Ciprian-IonutPanait Some rocks are more porous than others. Like volcanic rock is extremely porous and so it can absorb a lot of water. Concrete for example has a lot of porous material in it, which is why if you wash a concrete floor, it dries very fast. A few bushcraft channels show using rocks to warm up clothing. But they never take rocks from water beds. The best form of fire would actually have to be an underground fire. Military survivalists suggest it, as the fire can get very hot, burns through fuel slowly, and doesn't produce smoke or much light. What you do is you dig a single channel straight down like 0.5 meters (or 2ish feet). Then you dig two more tunnels at a 45 degree angle reaching the bottom of the first channel. Then you put the fuel in the first channel and light it. The two tunnels sucks in air down one, and shoots out carbon dioxide/monoxide out the other one.
Cactus juice is the quenchiest. The desert looks like an ocean afterwards and your companions look like they are on fire. 😉
Drink cactus juice: it'll quench'ya.
Water and food are not as important as shelter. There is enough time to find water on the second and food on the third day, but one night without shelter can mess you up.
Most awesome vid!!!! Also, couldn't help but think of Sokka when you talked about drinking water out of a cactus!!!!
A person of culture I see
Great and interesting video! Amazing work from the team !
Thank you 😊 Glad you enjoyed it and!
My brother and I discovered the hard way about cave fires when we were but young teens. That was the most choking experience of our lives.
😬😵💫
Additionally for water, remember safe water doesn't mean clean, and clean doesn't mean safe. Boiling it might make it safe but not clean, and a clean watersource isn't always safe.
Always have a calendar with you, that way you can survive off the dates and Sundays.
Even better if there's an old mattress nearby ... you know ... the kind with springs. :B
All these videos ever teach me is that if I'm stranded in the wild I'm going to die.
Interesting video once again ! Also do you do rock climbing ? Because you have a bandage on your finger. Keep the videos up ! 😁
Ha, I was wondering if someone was going to spot that! Sadly just a domestic mishap with a nail 😬
@@DebunkedOfficial ouch that doesn't sound too comfortable, anyway how have you been ?
@@uncommonsimon5775 good other than the accidental injuries. You?
@DebunkedOfficial Pretty good aswell but the occasional debunked video makes the day quite a bit better !
Blimey, you’ve got sharp eyesight!
Re: Cactus drinking, I will note that some species of cactus, namely the prickly pear and the fishhook barrel have less-concentrated levels of the detrimental chemicals and so may be an option if absolutely necessary, though are still noted as unpleasant to eat raw. However, if you are watching KZhead survivalist videos, I would NOT depend on your cactus-species recognition to be able to determine if a cactus is going to help or potentially kill you. Honestly, only really an option if you have a guide very familiar with local plants, and in that case, you probably have better options.
Correct and the fruit of the Pickly Pear is supposed to be very tasty, and according to the University of Nevada's College of Agriculture, Biotechnology & Natural Resources you can even eat the cactus pads themselves! The link covers preparation of the fruit and pads for consumption. extension.unr.edu/publication.aspx?PubID=2157#:~:text=Most%20prickly%20pear%20tunas%20and,or%20eaten%20in%20a%20salad.
According to Sokka, Cactus juice is the quenchiest. The desert looks like an ocean afterwards and your companions look like they are on fire. 😉
I love how expressive and sassy the cartoon is.
Morale of the story: Be in basement and play videogames.
Moral. The correct word is “moral”. Your attempt at cleverness is undermined by your misuse of the word “morale”.
@@airmcd86 I dont care thats my moral.
I found the content informative and the animations enjoyable. Thank you.
Thanks for watching and commenting 👍
I suppose that a fire put at the entrance of a cave acts like a radiator under a window : some sort of air curtain that blocks air current from entering or leaving
One additional tip: For all that's holy, do not use Bear Grylls as an authority on what to do. His stunts are for entertainment, not education, and several of them are seriously bad.
Not only are many of his “stunts” dangerous but some are fake and some are misleading. For example for all his blowing up of the dangers of alligators, I live where many people swim regularly in alligator infested waters and in all my 75 years I’ve only known of one person to be attacked. He lost an arm but survived.
The boiling water thing is why I advocate for straining, or filtering the water first before boiling it. Also, it's a good idea to have water purification tablets on hand for emergencies. Better still, if it can be managed, a good water still is a great idea too. Nothing like boiling, capturing and condensing to ensure purification.
If you're anywhere in Europe there's a simple trick you can apply when you're lost: find a river and follow it downstream. You're guaranteed to find a settlement by day's end. This won't work in less populates places, but over here it's quite effective.
Same with much of the US. Towns and cities need water, cities needed water for trade, so civilization follows larger waterways. Hear that airbus at normal conversational level? It's around 10000 feet, so an airport's likely within 20 - 30 miles. Loud as someone with their voice raised to near a shout? It's likely around 6000 feet, so you're 5 - 7 miles from the airport. Loud as a shout, you should see the airport. So loud that it's painful, duck, you're on the runway and really need to get onto the grass. Hear a highway, you're likely under a mile from it, likely closer. Hear a moose singing nursery songs to you, those berries you ate that tasted a bit off were probably nightshade, you're hallucinating and really, really screwed.
@@spvillanoLol, first part was useful and the second entertaining, have a like my friend.
I knew about vasodilation, the reduction of boiling point at altitude and one myth I expected to see, don't ration your water in the desert: drink as much as you can right away, otherwise you're constantly fighting dehydration as your hydration level keeps going up and down.
I’m freezing to death and potentially large predators in the area. Time to worry about the long term effects of smoke inhalation.
Lol. True, but the predators are not a factor either. Bears kill 1 person a year.... which means zero. Coconuts kill 100 people a year. Choking on hot dogs kills 100 people a year. Do you fear hot dogs? Predators are dramatic, so people love to fear them, but you are more likely to have your cave fall on your head. Yes freezing is a REAL threat.
The large predators will be very grateful for the smoked, preserved meat.
That sort of thing can kill you quite fast. There are very recent examples of people using power generators indoors that lead to suffocation. I can imagine that a fire would have similar effects.
How to survive anywhere: 1) Find Bear Grills. 2)??? 3) Drink piss together.
4. Go back to the nearby hotel and don't miss the a la carte
In the past I've been told, that the standard method in Siberia to save someone from hypothermia (from falling into a freezing river), is to strip them naked, wrap them up in a thick warm sheet and give them a shot of pure alcohol. I always found that last part rather questionable.
This may work since you wrap them up so it circulates the heat instead of just dissipating in the air.
Alcohol in the blood MAY (heavy emphasis on that word) function like antifreeze, preventing the water content of your cells from forming ice crystals and self-rupturing. Afaik, it works because the slight addition of alcohol to water will lower the freezing point of the entire resultant mixture. The freezing point of pure alcohols, for reference, is around negative 100 Celsius or negative 170 Fahrenheit.
In addition, if there is enough alcohol present in the blood for the freezing point to be VERY low, then when the body temperature approaches that point, the cell's water will freeze nearly instantaneously and/or expel most of the alcohol, but INTSTEAD of forming crystal lattice structures that would rupture important organelles, the water will instead become an amorphous glass ice, which can be thawed with significantly less damage to the cells. Freezing the body's internals as amorphous glass instead of regular crystal ice is the only way cryogenic preservation would be feasible irl, btw, but it's too inconsistent to really make it work.
Always keep a short length of fiber optic cable with you. If you are lost or stranded, just bury it. A backhoe will show up to dig it up for you. You can safely put it back in your pack to re-use while they drive you back to civilization.
I remember reading a story about the mushers that took the medicine to Nome during the diptheria epidemic. The lead dog stepped on ice that collapsed and got his front paws wet. The musher gave him a command to turn him so he put his paws in a big pile of soft fine "dry" snow. The dog knew to work his paws in the snow to make it absorb the cold water. I don't know if it's a true part of any musher's story, but I did learn that soft "dry" snow will absorb water.
So, alcohol indeed does not warm your *core* body temperature, and the vasodilation effect will cause your core body temperature to drop. So yes, drinking alcohol in freezing temperatures will cause you to get hypothermia much faster. However, if you are just rescued from the cold, or are about to find shelter, alcohol can stop and reverse damage caused by frostbite. Old rescue saint bernard dogs used to carry a cute little barrel of brandy around there neck, intended for frostbite victims to drink. This will cause more blood to reach cold extremities and prevent frostbite. The brandy could actually save your life, especially back in those days where frostbite and gangreen could easily kill you, at least much more than now because of antibiotics.
I have a big knowledge of making a fire in or next to the cave. 1. In 9 of 10 cases you get a smoke poisoning. In a very rare case the smoke can circulate like in the video. 2. It is nearly impossible to trigger a rock fall with fire. I try it many times.
What if you collect the steam ( allow it to condensed on a surface) and drink the water from that? Would that remove some harmful materials in the water?
yes, since that would simply be pure distilled water. But it would be hard to make enough water vapor (boiling off water takes a lot of energy) and also then get enough of it to condensate into a drinkable vessel to make it worth it. (If you drank only that for an extended period of time, it would also not be that healthy but in a survival situation I doubt you need to care about whether it's depleting some your body's stored minerals)
Thanks
@@lachouette_et_le_phoqueNot fully distilled but better than before. You make several pits of vegetation or your own urine with a clear inverted dome cover, and a catch vessel under the center.
Research is all very well and good, but when are you planning on filming your next camping trip? Greetings from a routine desert wanderer from the Sonora Desert in Arizona. 🍻 Appreciate your work.
Great channel and content. Glad i found it. 🇦🇺 😊
😊 Thank you! Glad you found us too!
I am a survival instructor and I was pleasantly surprised by the accuracy of all the information presented (could not comment on the leech portion since I have no jungle training however). Even the part at the end was correct, but you missed one thing: always go out with a proper survival kit made from items *you purchased individually!* Do not ever bring a premade survival kit into the wilderness with you. -when we buy premade survival kits, we tend to not even open them, and just chuck them in our bags, meaning we don't know how to use the tools inside when we most need them -most premade survival kits are filled with low-quality or garbage tools (remember you are placing your life in the hands of that flimsy cheap pocket knife) -A homemade survival kit, made from items you purchased individually, means some level of thought went it into every single item, and you are more likely to know how to use each item effectively A good survival kit, individually assembled, should include such things as a fixed-blade knife, a pot/cup to boil with, multiple methods of making fire, waxed tinder which can hold a light for multiple minutes, among other things. An excellent knife you can rely on with your life is the Mora Heavy Duty, a trusted knife by professional survivalists all over the world, which sells for only $20. I know of few other knives that are so cheap that you can definitely rely on. Les Stroud outlines a masterful emergency survival kit here: kzhead.info/sun/nL6igbGqjYJ9h58/bejne.html&t Also, dayhikes are often more dangerous than long backpacking trips. During dayhikes we are more nonchalant, and more easily make mistakes. Always stay on the trail, it's much, much easier to get lost than you think. Stay safe in the woods!
As far as whether boiling water would make it safe, I would say "it depends on what's in it". Boiling certainly kills microorganisms, but it does not remove toxins left behind by the bacteria (or from other sources). If it's that bad distillation is the only way to make it safe.
Well, ion exchange resin filtration, molecular sieve filtration both can as well, but then we're getting about as absurd as distillation when lost in the woods with just what has on one's person. Charcoal filtration is doable, though one would then have to build a fire and bake charcoal.
@@spvillano Yeah...well if you had a pot, aluminum foil, a container of some kind, and a way to make a fire you could make a primitive distillation setup. But if you're lost in the woods it's not likely that you'll have camping equipment.
@@StormsparkPegasus the story of my life. When stuck out in the woods, my pot, containers, aluminum foil, firemaking tools, electron microscope and aircraft are always left in my other pair of pants.
What other fateful survival tips can you think of?
Sucking venom out of a wound?
That fella who tried to survive on a diet of only McDonalds looked pretty worse for wear by the end 😆
Drinking your own pee - Bear Grylls 🤦♂
How about using the leeches to close wounds? Myth? Useful?
@accident you mean wings of redemption the KZheadr? Lol
How about the one I learnt in school, that if you need water you can tie a plastic bag around some tree leaves with the bag pointing down (or put a small weight in the bag) and after a few hours the leaves will sweat and you'll be left with water in the bag? I've seen it work, but I wasn't allowed to try drinking it.
I lived in the mountains most of my life. It was wonderful! So much wildlife and so few people. I'll doubtlessly go back if/when I ever get the opportunity.
11:30-11:50 is an entire mood, and this man has my sympathy.
Running mountain water above ~3km is generally safe to drink, unless it originates in a shallow pool. Always taste before satisfying your thirst. As is said in proverbs, "Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof." This one time I found wild anise at ~4km, but there were too many bugs to enjoy more than a nibble.
Most cylindrical cacti contain not only toxic alkaloids but hallucinogenic ones as well. Opuntias (prickly pears) are generally safe, these are the cacti with flat pads instead of cylindrical stems.
8:57 Nah, I got that idea from Avatar: The Last Airbender. "Drink cactus juice! It'll quench ya!"
I was always sus of the fire and cave, so thanks for the confirmation on that. Also thanks for the cactus one, because that I legit did not know.
Note on desert cacti-- please do not cut down, cut up, or otherwise damage cacti. I say this because sometimes it's fun to "play" survivalist on a camping trip or something, and the human population on earth is high enough that even a "few" of us doing that can cause serious ecological destruction.
Go hug a cactus. CO2 is a lie.
if you don't have water in the desert, you should have brought water
I filtered red colored water coming out of an old decommissioned copper mine…I’m still alive. The whole water fear blows my mind. Drink the water and get treated once out of the survival situation.
My brother when he goes hill walking, sometimes drinks stream water, unboiled straight from the stream, he's never had an upset stomach. I think he's just been very lucky!
What I've learned from the "Water Quality" homework: nature is sure scary.
Another problem with drinking liquor (especially a strong one) is that it can increase dehydration as it is a diuretic. It also inhibits the signals that are telling you you need to pee thus also adding the hazard of possibly rupturing your bladder.
I love the animation man!!
Thank you 😊
They say it's a head game too. Like once you start freaking out or just kicking yourself being all grumpy and thinking "If only this. If only that." that's dangerous. Keep a calm head. Stay as positive as possible under the circumstances. Running water usually runs into something bigger and eventually into civilization. Follow it downstream. You can boil water in a plastic bottle or similar container if you have to. It's not ideal but it works if you don't let the fire touch the container.
I don't know, I'll take my Dad's advice over this...he had to fight overseas in the Vietnam war and he definitely burned them off with a lit cigarette. I also learned from him that you can heat up cold rations with C4 by burning a 'bar' of it haha...it only cost like a thousand dollars to heat up his meals. Shhh don't tell the U.S. government about that though ; ) . He told me it was pretty common place though, and not just his platoon doing that.
Very good advice. I admit that I have often believed things from movies which seem to make sense. So spotty knowledge, and human intelligence might not be enough for survival. I don't travel much, but if I do, I hope I remember to have respect for my surroundings at all times.
In a survival situation, boiling any water you can find is ALWAYS the less risky than going without water. While heavy metal toxicity isn't good for you. Death by dehydration is much much worse for you. If you are really concerned, it is possible to make a still and distill the water. This will remove any heavy metals and most cyanobacteria as well as salt in the case of sea water.
"If you want to stay safe, avoid dangerous situations". Genius.
Regarding the Neanderthals: They did NOT LIVE in caves. They may have temporarily occupied them and some were pretty large. But primitive humans, including Neandertals, were nomds that spent more time in the open than in caves.
In terms of Boiling water. It is also possible to capture condensate from boiling water and redirect it into another drinking vessel. Doing so does not carry any of the algae or heavy metals as they cannot be carried into the steam. However, this is much harder to actually achieve without the right equipment. A crockpot for camping a thin metal straw and a flask to collect the water can help, but will contaminate the pot.
Dude, thanks for this video. I have seen so much BS on TV, that stands a good chance of getting you killed. One was on a survival show, the guy said getting H2O this way was safe. I told my wife it wasn't. He got sick about a day or two later and had to leave the show. Thank God it was a TV show with medical help, due this guy would be deader than fried chicken.
These videos are terrific.
Thank you so much! Really glad you're enjoying them! Any favourites?
The cactus you SHOULD look for is the Jumping Choya, its small pieces break off easily (it actually multiplies by breaking apart and sticking to anything that passes by), thus even a small knife or stick will let you get chunks off, but the chunks will be covered with spines, BURN the spines off and you have effeictivly a rubbery cucumber that can be chewed for water.
Not to do: bear grills stuff: eating random plants and bugs / jumping from heighs to breal an ankle
On the boiling front, if it's 1C/300m and it's roughly 77C to get rid of anything that's a danger to us, that means about 6.9km of height before you start having much issue with effectiveness
Amazing video, I have sunscribed to you for a year now and since haven't missed a video, wonder why you are still at 800k not a million. Can you do a myths about humans video? Stu is so hard working.
We've hit a few bumps in the road with videos being incorrectly flagged by YT the last couple of years which has really slowed our growth, but hopefully we're heading back in the right direction 🤞
All the best guys!@@DebunkedOfficial
@@bloop_official thanks BTW it's Stu (Stuart) 😉
Sorry@@DebunkedOfficial
@@bloop_official no apologies necessary! 🙂
3:38 it can help in certain circumstances. It raises heart rate and increases body heat. If you are close to a warm shelter it can give you the boost to get to it. On the other hand staying in the cold and consuming alcohol will decrease your ability to produce heat faster.
I always figured it was best to start with flowing water then boil or filter it.
A good fact that I saw on a show for the dessert is that camels store water in the back part of there body and people had to cut it open and get water to fill up a cup and drink it
Wow. Believing this would result in just desserts 😂
Just ...No!
as someone that grew up in the desert, the best advice i can give for surviving the desert is just to avoid it. seriously, it sucks. in the day it can get hot enough to kill you in just a few hours, then at night it can get cold enough to give you hypothermia and kill you, especially when it snows (yes it can snow in the desert). basically every plant and animal has some way to kill you like thorns, stingers, sharp teeth, claws, poison, venom... water is rare, and when you find it you will find more of the dangerous wildlife near it. scorpions, spiders, centipedes, and rattlesnakes are just some of the things that are happy to cuddle up next to you while you sleep, then bite or sting you if you rollover onto them or when you wake up and start moving in the morning. i've spent 35 years trying to self rescue from the desert, and i'm finally close to getting out of this hellhole alive.
But at least you managed to hack into somebody's wifi, so there's that. :)
@@653j521 what are you talking about?
Also regarding the cave fire unless the materials are damp they should not produce a lot of smoke thus what you said will not happen. As a note CO2 is a greater danger going too deep in the cave and it usually stays at ground level. The reason you would not make a fire at the mouth of the cave is actually because most of the heat will go out anyway. So you will not actually get too much warmt from it
My panned brain registered the last part as "Should you burn salt?" and was like: Only if you want to survive on graveyards with known ghost population Commas help in not appearing like a psycho I like cooking my family and my pets I like cooking, my family and my pets
Don't put river rocks in a fire/fire ring. Find rocks far from a water source for that. Water get trapped inside a rock (even if it looks dry) and pressure builds up from the heat and cause it to explode, possibly sending shards into those who are nearby.