How Lethal Are Jungles?

I suspect the most likely way they'd go is from some sort of bacterial or viral infection. Bacteria would be rampant in pools of water, and even in lakes or rivers, if there were any. Bugs would be biting and would transmit disease. It would be easy to get cut and the wound get infected with oodles of different types of bacteria. Plus, being run down, stressed, unable to sleep well, the likelihood of being in damp clothes (increasing discomfort, increasing cold -- even at night, if temps were as low as the 50s or 60s, being in wet clothes could make one pretty darn cold). There are all kinds of viruses that hide in remote jungles. An animal bite would also transmit disease.

There are all kinds of weird things one can find in the jungle. One of the most disturbing medical situations I've ever heard was from a part of the amazon jungle. A guy was urinating into either the Amazon River or some tributary. There is, apparently, a very unusual, relatively small fish that swims up streams. This fish swam up the guy's urine stream and into his, uh, urethra. He was in a great deal of pain for a great while until doctors discovered it and were able to remove it. Had it been in him longer, I'm sure it would not have been good.

Also, there are piranha. Not only could they kill a human by eating him, but just a bite could lead to an infection/sepsis.

One of the best guesses for where the Ebola virus hides is in certain caves near Lake Victoria. Hemorrhagic fever-type diseases are usually found in jungle environments.

There are parasitic amoebas that swim up nasal passages and cause encephalitis that usually results in death in less than a day. These are becoming more common with warmer temperatures in freshwater lakes even outside of jungle areas. Other parasites in freshwater lakes in Africa can enter through your skin, even without a cut, and will kill you.

I'm not eager to go to the jungle.

Edited to add: Someone is going to accuse me of spreading an urban legend with the urine fish. I saw it on a documentary and read about it elsewhere. Here's an article about it. Feel free to research further:
http://voices.yahoo.com/the-dreaded-candiru-aka-penis-fish-myth-horrible-503397.html

 

Jungles aren't lethal. Its the plants and animals and other environmental conditions that will kill you.

Assuming your character can avoid predators and animals with powerful defense mechanisms (for example, toxic skin secretions), and finds edible plants and animals and potable water, he or she could survive indefinitely. Extremes of temperature could be dangerous, of course, or there could be environmental dangers like deadfalls/

How long could your character survive in a savannah, or even in a tough city? There is potential for lethal hazards in any environment.

 

True, true.

 

Yes, but the OP asked about jungles. I'm guessing her novel is at least partially set in a jungle. That doesn't mean that she's claiming that there aren't dangers in the savannah or in a city. She may already know those other dangers, or they might not be relevant to her story.

I'm not too concerned about dengue fever or piranha when I walk the streets of Chicago. I might be worried about gun violence, but I probably wouldn't be too concerned about gun violence if I were in a jungle.

 

Now I'm just guessing, but I think those survival stories are much more likely to be good luck rather than the norm

Sure, of course you can survive in the jungle - if you knew what to do! The OP has already stated that the character knows about as much as anyone of us do here on the thread (wiki/google level). I dunno about you, but I know my own chances of survival would *not* be good.

As Liz pointed out, even if you get a source of water, the water itself has tonnes of bacteria. You're not from that area, your body doesn't have the natural immunity the locals may have. I remember my mum had quite bad digestion problems in Hong Kong - and she was born and bred in Hong Kong. She'd left the place for something like 8 years and when she returned, her stomach could no longer take the germs that are quite common in the food that street vendors serve. Now imagine a complete foreigner, walking into a jungle, no less - you're gonna run into problems unless you're very lucky. Imagine if you get diarrhoea - it won't kill you, but now you're gonna be dehydrated and will have little strength to search for fresh water.

I remember I read in an article a guard in a national park was standing at his station in the afternoon, in the middle of the jungle, and got eaten by an anaconda. When someone asked the locals (the jungle communities) if they'd seen the guy, the locals all replied, "Ah he probably got eaten by a crocodile." It seemed rather common.

As for piranhas, the trick is to check if they're red or white piranhas. The white ones are less violent, and all you need is throw in a piece of meat to lure them elsewhere as you bathe or wash in the water (something else I saw in a documentary) Of course, if you're not a local and a simple foreigner stranded in the middle of the jungle, good luck finding meat you can waste like that.

As for crocs, don't splash the water, but I guess that might be common knowledge.

 

I don't know where on Earth you are planning your story, but poison dart frogs are to be found in the jungles of South America.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poison_dart_frog

Only looking at them can make a person shiver from top to toe!

I don't know much about jungle life myself, but why not add crocodiles, snakes and some poisonous animals and insects? I imagine that one would have to look out for these animals all the time, if one were living in such an environment.



How well an outsider would be able to survive in a jungle would depend on their............ skills. Is your character supposed to be an outsider who is stuck in a jungle? What are his/her experiences with camping? Does he/she have good knowledge about the use of first aid? Hunting? Fishing? Building? He/she might need to build a hut. I imagine it would be dangerous to sleep under the open air with all kinds of poisonous animals lurking around.

Although most people don't have any experiences with jungles, some people are more skilled in camping, first aid, hunting, fishing etc. than others. If that person is used nature, I imagine he or she would fare better in a jungle than a person who sits in front of the computer all day.
If he/she is an indoors person, it could make a good story/challenge. Maybe all of his/her references come from games, TV series and movies, so he/she would be forced to rely on that small information?

 

It all depends what is in the jungle. The character can easily get eaten by wild beasts or die from dieasaes. He or she will have to build a safe shelter and make weapons. Check out the new Tomb Raider game. It is both an action and a survivor game.

 

According to Axel Rose, the Jungle has 'Fun', 'Games' and 'Everything you want.'

I think I could handle that for a while. I'd probably spend some time wanting food and water.

 

My guess is that Axel Rose has spent zero minutes in a jungle. I want Pop Tarts. Do they have Pop Tarts in the jungle?

 

I don't think lack of water is a problem in jungles. In fact, there is usually a lot of it around, both on the ground and coming out of the sky, for all the vegetation to survive and flourish, enough to make a ....jungle. Whether the water is safe to drink or not, well that's another issue. Research, really. Nothing beats it!

 

Would watching Man vs. Wild episodes where Grylls strands himself in various jungles count as part of research?

 

I think definitely part of research. I think they deeply exaggerate the amount of danger he's in for ratings, but I think this can help - in addition to real documentaries and books, of course.

 

Lost a brother to a black mamba and unfamiliar with any harmless jungle.

As for flowing water, what if just upstream a fish craps, they've been known to do that you know, crap in flowing water. Or there's something dead on the bottom and it's ripe. The list goes on. Flowing water anywhere can get you and get you fast.

Took the boys canoeing on Swanee River one time. Came up on a dead gator on the bank and man was it ripe. But the boys had to cut some teeth out. After a few minutes they finished and I'm past ready to get away from the smell. Told them to wash their knives off and the teeth. What did they do? Went about 10 feet downstream to do it! Kids do the damnest things!

How's that flowing water BS working for you now?

 

I have a friend who was in the British SAS, he spent a lot of time in the jungle. It is a very rich environment in terms of resources, but also, there are a lot of dangers. He said that if you are dropped in without anything, the best way to figure out what is safe to eat is to watch what monkeys in the trees eat, then eat that, Also eat the monkeys. And be meticulous about any cuts, because tropical ulcers are very nasty. And you might have various guerrilla fighters in some jungles, in which case, starting a fire wouldn't be very safe.

 

From what I understand, the biggest threats would be disease and infection. You could have you character get a nasty infection that puts him on a timeline, so every other delay is that much more stressful.

 

The girl who survived in the Amazon was Juliane Koepcke (one of the text books I've used had a long atory about her in it). Her biggest problem was insect bites that got infected and then infested with maggots. She was near death when she was found after 10 days. She probably survived because she was actually experienced in the jungle and had learnt a lot from her parents who were scientists. A lot of it was luck, though.

 

There is always more to the story. The insects are much more than a annoyance, and infection is the biggest concern--a hang nail can kill you in those circumstances.

 

Soooooooo lethal.

 

Approximately 70% of people think they could survive easily were they to break from civilization. Easiest thing to do is give them what they expect.

 

Read "The Hatchet"

 

Silly girl.......All jungles are BYOPT.

 

Not the concrete jungle.