Our species has been able to overcome numerous challenges in its environment throughout the centuries. The ability to adapt physically and mentally to a rapidly changing world kept humans alive while other species gradually died off. Our survival mechanism is undoubtedly our most basic natural instinct, it is in our genes, and it’s evolutionary.

The following cases display in the best possible way how our will for survival surmounts any emotion or logical thought when our life is in danger. Last but not least, not to forget to mention that this article is heavily inspired by the AWESOME documentary television series: I Shouldn't Be Alive

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Dancing With The Sharks 

In October 1982 five people got caught in a tropical storm. Once their yacht sank, they were forced to survive in the middle of the Atlantic on a raft with no survival equipment. To their absolute terror, the area of the ocean they were in was infested with sharks. 

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Among them was the brave Deborah Scaling Kiley who was hired to man the fifty-eight-foot yacht called the Trashman for a routine Maine-to-Florida journey. When the Trashman sank, the five crew members gathered on an eleven-foot Zodiac. Two of them drank seawater, became delusional, left the Zodiac, and were eaten by sharks. 

The third had an agonizing death from infected wounds suffered as the yacht went down. Five days after the yacht sank, Kiley and the other survivor were rescued by a passing Soviet cargo ship. Kiley went on to become a motivational speaker, appeared on Larry King Live (CNN), and published a couple of best sellers that featured lessons in survival. 

Human Prey For Lions 

Greg Rasmussen is an English biologist who has spent over twenty-five years studying the African wild dog. In 2003, during one of the many trips he used to take for his research, Greg found himself alone and trapped in the middle of nowhere in the African bush as his plane crashed and he ended up being the only survivor. With his legs broken in six different places, the biologist was unable to move and suffered incredible pain. 

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He had become an easy prey for the lions and other wild animals. In addition to the stress caused by being exposed to these predators, Greg also had to withstand extreme temperatures and a lack of food and water while waiting for help. Eventually a rescue team arrived and found Greg alive. He would later have surgery to fix his legs, which left him three inches shorter. 

Lost In The Amazon

Dave and Crystal had a very long history together. They used to date before destiny brought them together in the hell that they would have to find their way out of. In the summer of 2002 after having recently reconnected, they decided to heat up their relationship and revive their adventurous past. As they were heading through the Amazon rain forest they got lost due to some misfortunes and wrong calculations.

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 In the middle of the unwelcoming jungle they had to face wild and poisonous animals, a lack of food and water, as well as physical and mental fatigue that would bring them to their limits. Crystal, who suffered from clinical depression, broke down and tried to convince Dave to cut their wrists to end their torture. Dave had different plans and, as any real man would do in such an extreme case, he found a way to get them back home safely. 

Avalanche Of Terror 

In 2003 Ken Jones, a British climber and former member of the Special Forces, bored by the daily routine of his civilian life, decided to revive the glory days of his military past and climb the dark and mysterious Carpathian Mountains in Romania. However, he made the mistake of underestimating the sudden changes in the unpredictable weather in the area. As a result, he paid a high cost. 

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The fall from a seventy-five-foot cliff left him unconscious. Jones would wake up several hours later in a snow-white landscape with a shattered pelvis, broken femur, broken ribs, and a broken leg. Without any supplements and in temperatures as low as −20˚ C, the former SAS member stayed amazingly calm and disciplined. He crawled his way out of the situation for seven miles, crossing a river to avoid wolves and forcing himself to stay awake so he wouldn’t freeze to death. He was finally found and rescued by a local farmer.  

MAN VERSUS BEAR BEFORE LEO MADE IT LOOK COOL IN THE REVENANT  

Bram Schaffer’s story is one for the ages. Schaffer, only eighteen in 1995, was a young hunter who had the misfortune of getting mauled by a grizzly bear in Montana. Miraculously he survived the vicious attack, but was severely injured; his blood running like a river, parts of his left thigh were ripped off the bone. What made things even more complicated was the isolated location he was trapped in and the extreme weather conditions. 

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The injured Schaffer had to get off the mountain as soon as possible in the midst of a wild storm so he wouldn’t die from the excessive bleeding. Luckily, other hunters found him shortly after the incident and helped him by providing medical care that temporarily stopped the bleeding. They would later carry him to a camp, where doctors would remove any threats to his life.  

To Be Continued....

References 

September 2013 Issue 212: A hellish delivery

An Evening with Dr. Greg Rasmussen

Avalanche Briton makes amazing four-day crawl to safety

Grizzly mauls hunter north of YNP