As I was saying yesterday in Part I, our species can survive anything; or almost anything to be a little more accurate. The thing is that some of us may think that we don't have the heart or even the guts to reach our limits, while others will do ANYTHING it takes to survive. The only sure thing is that you will never know for sure if you never try. 

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In my not so humble opinion, serving in the special forces - especially if military service is a mandatory where you live - is a good way to test the waters. Back to our topic, however, here are five more cases which demonstrate how our survival mechanism is undoubtedly our most basic natural instinct, it is in our genes, and it’s evolutionary. 

The Dude Who Ate His Own Dog 

During one of his trips in 1985 Benedict Allen got lost in the Amazon rain forest, where he spent twenty-eight agonizing days. During this time Allen dealt with native gangs and murderers who tried to kill him while he was sleeping, and with starvation and dehydration. He would also get malaria, which made his experience even more unpleasant.

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The peak of his “journey” was when he had to kill his only companion, his dog Cashoe, who was the only source of nutrition available to him. Even though he still gets criticized by various animal organizations for murdering his own dog with a machete, the truth is that he did what he had to do to survive. 

The Lady Who Was Saved By Her Dog

I fully understand that the animal lovers who are reading this article are probably upset right now, so I think it's a good idea to balance things a bit. Let's talk about Danelle Ballengee, a four-time Pikes Peak Marathon winner and a world-champion adventure racer, who in 2006 became the victim of an extremely violent fall during one of her adventures. "Thanks" to the accident she suffered a shattered pelvis and had to spend fifty-six hours in a canyon near Moab, Utah, in great pain, without any real food and in the deadly cold, especially at night. 

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Luckily for Danelle, her dog Taz saved her life when he led the rescuers to her. When she was found, Danelle was unable to move because her skeleton was split in two large pieces by the almost deadly accident. 

Seventy-Six Days Lost At Sea 

In 1981 Steven Callahan, an experienced sailor, sailed from the Canary Islands to the Bahamas in a 6.5-meter self-built boat. However, things didn’t go his way during his ambitious journey and he ended up all alone, lost in the Atlantic for seventy-six days. He went through so much, just bobbing around in the ocean in basically just a plastic bag. 

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After finishing the supplies he saved from the boat, he tried his hand at spearfishing. He survived by eating raw fish and used solar stills to obtain water during the day. When his boat started sinking at one point, he went back to grab his survival gear and got out. If he had not gone back to get his gear he probably never would have made it. 

Miracles Do Happen 

As a mountain climber, Lincoln Hall was part of the very first Australian team to climb Mount Everest in 1984. Twenty-two years later he would reach the summit of the mountain by himself. During his descent, however, an almost biblical miracle took place. Lincoln, who was already suffering from a rare illness known as cerebral edema, and is related to altitude sickness, was left for dead; rescue teams had failed to track him at such high altitudes under the extreme weather conditions. 

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Against all odds, Hall would be found alive the next morning by another team that was attempting to reach the top of Everest. The surprising news made Hall one of the most famous climbers in the world. His story was covered by every major international news channel and described as a miracle.  

First-Date Nightmare

In 2003 Jeremy Colenso and Rachel Kelsey, two climbers on a not-so-romantic first date in the Swiss Alps, were nearing the summit of a mountain when they were violently stopped by ice. A massive storm that had formed in the valley below forced the climbers to descend in treacherous conditions. Unfortunately, they ended up trapped on a ledge in temperatures as low as -15° C and blocked from continuing their descent by heavy snow. 

They were forced to shelter on a thin, exposed ridge with only a small plastic cover for protection. Rachel was unable to contact the mountain rescue service on her cell phone but sent a text message to a friend in London, who spent the night trying to contact emergency services. 

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Even then, rescue was impossible because of the perilous weather and the rescue team had to send a text to Rachel telling her she would have to spend a second night on the mountain. In case you’re dying to know what happened, they made it out safely. For the record, Rachel is one of only four women to have completed the SAS selection process and trained as an officer with the UK Special Forces. No wonder she was the “man” in this story. 

A STORY ABOUT HOW TO FALL FROM 33,000 FEET AND SURVIVE  

You’re six miles up, alone and falling without a parachute. Things are bad, no? Without exaggerating, this is the most insane survival story of the twentieth century and the highest fall without a parachute to be survived according to the Guinness Book of Records. Who is the holder of the record you ask? Vesna Vulović, a Serbian flight attendant who fell from a plane that exploded in midair and broke into two pieces while flying at 33,330 feet. Actually, I have written a wacky fact dedicated to her incredible story...Remember? Wacky Fact #6

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Despite falling at the breakneck speed of 350 kph, she miraculously survived. The incredible incident, which looks more like a wild scenario from an action or even sci-fi film rather than a true story, happened forty-four years ago in then Czechoslovakia. Vulović, the only survivor of the twenty-eight people on board, suffered a fractured skull, three broken vertebrae, one of which was crushed completely, leaving her temporarily paralyzed from the waist down, and two broken legs. 

She was in a coma for twenty-seven days but after several operations and the extreme care doctors showed her, she managed to wake from the coma earlier than expected and soon after started walking again. The first thing she asked for once she woke up was a cigarette. Now this, ladies and gents, is what I call an ORIGINAL GANGSTA!     

References

He even ate his own dog to survive in the Amazon

Between A Dog And A Hard Place

I was adrift on a raft in the Atlantic for 76 days

Mountaineer who miraculously survived a night left for dead on Everest

Climbers rescued by text message