Average Person Thinks They Can Survive for Two Weeks in the Wilderness



A survey of 2000 Americans finds that the "average person" thinks they can survive 16 days in the wilderness. The survey, conducted by OnePoll on behalf of Avocado Green Mattress, does not give the percentage of people who make such a claim, but we might assume that a majority of respondents claim a survival time of at least that long. We also don't know if the survey defined wilderness at all, which is important. "Wilderness" can be the Appalachian Trail, the Yukon, or Death Valley. However, the same survey found that only 17% of respondents felt "very confident" in their ability to start a fire with flint. There seems to be a disconnect here. Other results show that people don't know as much about nature as they think they do.

While over half the poll (52%) are confident in their ability to identify different types of plants and trees, researchers put that to the test and discovered many weren’t quite as knowledgeable as they claimed. Only a quarter of respondents could identify a black oak leaf, while just 35 percent correctly spotted poison ivy when seeing it in a photo.

As a lifelong enemy of the poison ivy vine, I find that appalling. I hope the 65% never find themselves answering the call of nature in the woods and looking for something to use for toilet paper. Read more results from the survey at StudyFinds. -via Fark


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Yeah, first thing that came to my mind was "What time of year?" There's huge differences in survivability in almost any region based on that alone. Do you start with region/season appropriate clothing, etc...?
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You got 3 days to find water. Drinkable water that won't kill you. Surviving in the wilderness, starting at 0 with no food no water, is harder than it seems. People that get lost in the wilderness, and luckily get rescued, often have broken limbs, infections from cuts or from drinking bad water, and are malnourished from eating nothing or bad stuff.
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Weird survey. Any wilderness? Any season? I live in Alaska, and could probably find enough things to eat if it happened to be July-Aug. (I'm good w/ plant/root identification, it's berry season, salmon are moving into streams.) We don't have poison ivy/oak here; I don't think I'd recognize it. Leaves of 3, let it be or something like that? Exposure is our big issue. So, July-Aug, maybe 40% survival. Any other time of year, 0%-5%. People get lost here all the time. Almost no one survives.
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