“If it’s black, fight back. If it’s brown, lie down.”
That’s shortened to the point of being useless and leaves out all parts that actually matter.
First of all, there are black grizzlies and brown “Black bears” and the sizes of the species overlap. It may be hard to identify a bear that’s coming at you.Here’s what you should do: Carry bear spray whenever you’re in bear country!
When you encounter a bear close up, stand still, take out your pepper spray (or anything you can use as a weapon) and start talking to it calmly. Let it know you’re a human and neither aggressive nor afraid. Ask it how its day is going!
If it backs down, you walk backwards slowly till it’s out of sight, then find a different route.
If it stops, advances or charges, you stand still, facing it. Don’t run or climb a tree.
Most charges are mock charges where it’ll stop before you.If it doesn’t stop and gets within 20 feet, shoot your bear spray, which resolves 98% of bear attacks without injury:
https://irp.cdn-website.com/01d676b7/files/uploaded/Tom_Smith_Research_Report___Efficacy_of_Bear_Spray_(1).pdf In the other 2%, fight for your life. Aim for the nose. Good Luck!Lying down might sometimes be better if it’s a Grizzly, depending on its reason for attacking you, but there’s no way you can know that. Chances are, after its first slap you’re lying down anyway.
Source: worked as a ranger in British Columbia
Just want to add, because as an outdoorsy guy in Pennsylvania, I’m a little dumbfounded by how many people seem to think we might have brown/grizzly bears in our neck of the woods.
There aren’t. If you’re reading this, odds are pretty good that you don’t live in brown bear country, because you’re probably in an English-speaking country, and just going by numbers you’re probably not in the parts of western Canada, Alaska, or the tiny part of the Continental US (mostly just Yellowstone) where they can be found.
Everywhere else in North America it’s black bears (or polar bears, but I really hope you don’t need help identifying those, and maybe a handful of grizzly-polar bear hybrids)
If you’re in Europe you have brown or polar bears.
If you’re in Asia, you have a few species with a bit of overlap- brown, polar, panda, sun, and 2 or 3 other species I don’t remember off the top of my head.
If you’re in the Andes, you got spectacled bears.
If you’re anywhere else in the world, read the sign by the cage because you’re in a zoo.
Also, I have never encountered a black bear that didn’t immediately fuck off the moment it noticed me. There are certainly bolder ones out there, and you should always take any reasonable precautions, but when I’m camping and hiking, bears are basically at the bottom of my list of concerns, squirrels, chipmunks, mice, etc. generally rank higher, I’ve had chipmunks try to get into my pack while I was sitting there watching it.
All my years of camping I’ve had exactly 1 incident with a bear back when I was in scouts, and it happened when we were all away from camp, it got into a box of cookware, and I suspect it probably immediately scared itself away when the pots and pans went clattering everywhere.
My experience with black bears as well. They fuck off as soon as they see you.
Grizzlies seemed more annoyed, like “Why’s there a human in my woods? I just wanna chill.”
So depending on their mood, they’ll usually check you out, maybe try to get you to fuck off, and failing that, grudgingly walk away.I actually missed the number one protection against bear (and cougar) attacks in my post:
Have a hiking partner and talk to them. Or sing to yourself.
That reduces the chance of even encountering a bear by a lot cause they hear you coming and avoid you well in advance.
The drawback is you won’t get to see a bear.Our bear safety trainer actually said step 1 in a bear encounter is: Take out your camera.
It puts you in a more reasonable mindset, cause almost no encounters lead to attacks. And you can take some sweet pictures.What about a moose?
Find cover. A big tree or big rock.
Use your small size and better maneuverability to keep the cover between you and the moose.
Move from cover to cover to create distance.
If there’s no cover, run like hell. Moose are faster than you, but they often stop after a short distance.This reminds me of a story from a friend of mine who lived in Canada…he sent me texts with his car completely fucked in the middle of a two lane highway with no other cars or trees around… I asked what the hell did he hit, his response is that a moose had crashed into him, got up and just left. The entire passager side of the car looked like it had been smashed in by a big truck.
That was the day I learned that a moose is something you do not fuck with.
A bull moose weighs up to 1600 pounds and is designed for repeated frontal collisions with another 1600 pound moose.
Title of your sex tape? There’s a joke in there somewhere…
Heard that, run (hopefully for cover)! Thank you, and I hope never to utilize that knowledge
I had a friend from the UK who planned on biking across Canada (never happened). He asked what animals he should be scared of. It wasnt the bears. Its moose.
They look goofy as fuck, yes. But they can be aggressive for seemingly no reason and fuck you up real quick. Theyre big, heavy, strong, and have a fucking weapon strapped to their head.
Do. Not. Fuck. With. The. Moose.
A moose bit my sister once
Mynd you, m00se bites Kan be pretty nasti…
Why should I be in an English speaking country? There are lots of people here ;)
You’re posting in English, so odds are you’re in an English speaking country
There’s obviously non-native speakers here, but the majority of people using English language sites are usually gonna be from an English speaking country
Well, I’m not from an English speaking country and I’m not the only one. So info about brown bears can be relevant :)
Ask it how its day is going.
I’m just picturing somebody talking to a bear as if it understands what they’re asking.
The Winter War [Colorized]
That’s not what I would call „talking calmly“. Not even asked how his day is going!
But I admit the „you should be sleeping“ got me.
Similar but also not at all relevant.
The saying goes “if it’s brown flush it down. If it’s yellow let it mellow”
If you need help look for a cop.
You’d never find one of you went looking over here, I’ve not seen a cop on foot or parked up in YEARS. Only ever see em driving somewhere. Strange.
When I spent some time in the USA though it was creepy, they’d drive their cars around real slow, just watching you, and they’re everywhere. It felt weirdly oppressive/threatening to have them always around the next corner, always over your shoulder…watching o.O
No you got it backwards, you look for a cop and then go the other way before they see you
Hence why I posted it as an answer to the inquiry “What survival myth is completely wrong and can get you killed?”
Sorry I was trying to make a “it’s not technically wrong” style joke because fundamentally you’d still be looking for a cop but since cops are not actually safe the second part is the wrong part
Attempt was to add to your joke but didn’t land. Been a long few weeks
Only works if you’re a richwhiteman.
Lol!
This rule does not necessarily look wrong - in a civilized country.
The brightest star in the sky is not the North Star (Polaris). If you follow the brightest star in the sky you will follow a planet and travel some curved path.
How to really find Polaris:
I mean besides Venus, Polaris is not even the brightest real star. (Its Sirius)
Is you’re lost but someone knows where you’re supposed to be it’s probably better to stay put.
Also moss can grow on any side of a tree.
Drink alcohol to stay warm.
Is that an actual, existing survival myth?
Sadly, I think some people believe it.
But other people think you get sick from being outside in the cold
Yes. It’s where the old meme of St Bernards carrying little flasks of alcohol came from. The idea was if you were injured in the cold, alcohol would warm you up.
You may feel warmer. But it actually lowers your core temp, IIRC.
It actually was the case, in the olden days.
The classic image of St. Bernard rescue dogs carrying tiny barrels of brandy for the benefit of hypothermic travellers was a myth though.
I don’t know how much so practically, but it perseveres at least in tongue in cheek references to “putting on your whiskey jacket”
Can’t say I have ever heard that expression.
Alcohol is antibacterial, thus medicinal.
PCP makes you better at fighting cops
it makes you stronger too.
On it you can punch holes in reality(the wood fence) and make your way to the other side(the other side of the fence)
Well it’s not wrong, but it will get you killed
Makes it more fun, though!
ask AI slop for advise
TL;DR: If you post here, please emphasise the true text, e.g. put that up front!
I’ve noticed that I don’t remember text literally, so if a post says “the sky isn’t green” then I might tomorrow remember having read something about the sky and green but was this the correction or was this the myth? Was it even in the myths thread or did I read it elsewhere?
Better for me to read only true things, e.g.: “the sky is blue, don’t believe the myth about a different color”. Or mention the myth is in a spoiler tag or elsewhere in the text where it doesn’t act like the headline or main takeaway
Apparently most people have this, see e.g.: https://online.ucpress.edu/collabra/article/6/1/38/114468/Repetition-Increases-Perceived-Truth-Even-for
Run outside into the street during an earthquake
I think it very much depends on the building
Best bet is get in a bathtub. Second best, under a doorframe.
Wait, where in that priority list is tables?
I’m not in an earthquake-prone area so I have no idea but I thought the default advice was to get under a table or outside the building if you can make it. Never heard the bathtub… is that a myth you’re mentioning or?
A table won’t hold up when parts of the roof collapse on it.
It’ll buckle and you’ll be crushed under it.
A bathtub is a big bowl made out of a single piece of enameled steel, iron, polymer or fiberglass.
Its shape won’t change if the roof collapses on top of it.
Rescuers might have to free you but you’re less likely to get squished.Blows my mind that debris falling freely on your head is the option to choose over covering yourself with a hard shell because the roof is more likely to come down in a way where a strong U shape around you gives better survival chances
When caught in a Thunderstorm: Never lie flat on the ground. Crouch down in a ball-like position with your head tucked and hands over your ears so that you are down low with minimal contact with the ground. The discharge ends in the ground, and a person lying flat is at great risk of being caught in the discharge channel.
source:https://seecheck.org/index.php/2025/08/17/no-you-shouldnt-lie-on-the-ground-during-a-thunderstorm/
https://www.iii.org/article/lightning-safety-10-myths-and-the-facts
If you are at home when the threat of a tornado happens, go to the basement or the most inside room (most walls between you and outside).
But my main reason for posting: IF you are out and encounter a tornado, if you are far enough away to avoid it, avoid it, but if it’s close or if it doesn’t appear to be moving (meaning it’s moving straight for you), then you need to seek a ditch or low ground. A ditch is best - being even slightly below the level of the ground around you GREATLY reduces the wind and debris, which is what will kill you. Something like a culvert can be good, although not so small that a piece of debris could trap you in rising water… but a tornado is typically gone quickly relative to flash flooding.
The myth is that stopping under a bridge is good - even “better” is climbing the slope to hidde under the girders of the bridge. Sometimes you might survive, but people have died - packed in with mud and debris blow by the tornado. This also elevates you more into the windfield, which is bad.
Ideally you don’t want to be close to cars, much less inside them.
If you get bit by a venomous snake sucking the venom out doesn’t work and is likely to make things worse.
