What would one need to know, if they were stranded in a jungle?

Do the floating ship parts and debris include (a) something usable as a blade or hatchet, (b) some rope, and (c) dry matches?

@Jeruba Let’s say the ship parts can include a hatchet or knife, OR some of the parts COULD be used in that fashion, at least slightly. Rope, sure. But imagine the ship was wrecked so bad that finding dry matches would be pretty much impossible.

I’d draw on everything I could remember from survival stories and movies from Robinson Crusoe all the way to A Cry in the Wild (also known as Hatchet). A lot would depend on how cold it was: would first priority be simply keeping warm? One of the first things movie survivors do is create a shelter that keeps them out of reach of predators and other dangerous critters—for instance, a covered hammock in a tree.

Realistically, even with a water supply I would probably survive only as long as I could coast without the meds I take for various things, unless something poisonous or toothed got me first. Knowing I’d have a pretty small window of chance for rescue, I might actually concentrate on trying to leave a written record of some kind so my family might eventually find out what happened to me.

I’d probably also spend some effort trying to make a spark with a piece of steel and a rock. I wouldn’t recognize flint, but if it worked I guess I’d think I had found some.

With luck I might even find a volley ball to keep me company.

This question and @Jeruba‘s answer remind me of Les Stroud.

Water you could get from a stream if you could find one. If it rained could use the leaves to direct capture flow. If you had a waterproof something or other, maybe even a boot that would work temporarily until you could fashion something better using natural resources. Trees are sappy and that would make a good sealant. A pocketknife is always essential in a survival situation. Hopefully you would have one on your person and be able to use it to carve some wood into bowl or receptacle. Barring that there are oddly shaped rocks that could hold a little water. Imagine gathering a bunch of them and constructing a watertight well of sorts packing in moss or clay or using an item of clothing or sail from a raft to line it.

A jungle makes me think of vines, which assuming you could cut would then braid into ropes. Ropes would assist in shelter making, leaves and poles drift wood from the shipwreck. It would be the goal to save as much from the wreckage as possible. Should you decide to hole up for a bit or traverse areas more easily if travel seemed the course to take. Even possible to make nets. Fire making would be the hard part, but say you had glasses if no matches. I wear glasses so this would work for me. Use the light to start kindling on fire. Probably be best to dry out as quickly as possible.

So I would hole up for a day or two gather some food see if there is any debris from the ocean try to gather food. The ocean and beach would be a great source, even seaweed and mollusks smashed with a rock. Probably spend some time observing the environment. See what the birds and other small creatures are eating. As for poisonous or dangerous creatures well have a club and move carefully.

The bugs would be the worst. Probably get eaten alive. Maybe wear as much clothing as possible once it is dry and or try to smear mud one exposed skin, maybe sap would also be a savoir in this one once it dries out. Have to experiment with techniques before hitting the jungle in full force, the ocean could rinse me off should the attempts fail.

Pocketknife’s are pretty essential, maybe one was on my belt. So that would assist in shelter making and fashioning a pack to carry the gear food I had accumulated.

If cut well wash well and compression or tourniquet holding cut above heart if possible. Bind with cloth.

As to help I would welcome it but also be wary. Very vulnerable position to be in. Try to observe them from a distance before approaching. Keeping my gear stashed elsewhere.
A black box would be a reasonable thing to have on a craft. So hopefully that would get swept in with the tide.

As to treasure and parrots. Well my priority would be getting un-stranded alive. So probably not until I had established myself and exhausted all resources for help. Then it would be a diversion and a token of acceptance that I may be stuck there a while. But generally I like very few birds up close. They are bitey dirty creatures. I suppose it wouldn’t matter and it would become a pet. But I would have an initial aversion to them.

@Jeruba Interesting, keeping a record. My first impulse would be to try and build some kind of raft so I could leave, and eventually, hopefully…be found by a boat. But what are the chances of that working out, even if I knew how to make a raft…not sure that survives so well out on sea…which brings me to your point; keeping warm. Yeah, I just imagine that most jungles are really hot, so it never came to mind, but frankly I do not know. Are jungles like deserts, where it’s hot in the day and cold at night? Or are some jungles colder than others? But out to sea on a raft. Must get mighty freakin’ cold. Perhaps it’s much better to take your chance on the island.
Shelter, good though. You WOULD need one, if you figured you’d spend a hell of a lot of time in the jungle. Animals might stay away, if they recognized some unnatural element in their daily environment.

@rosehips Damn excellent answer. I especially like the part about observing things like birds, to see what they eat. NEVER thought of that, but it sounds like a fine and constructive idea. I’d also observe the feeding habits of monkeys, if any were around and didn’t run off as soon as they perceived my existence.

You got this whole thing in your answer about ’‘checking the water before diving in’’ that, I have to say…I just posted this out of nowhere, but if I WERE stuck in a jungle, I hope I could remember some of your answer. Eating stuff from the shore, never thought of either. If you can manage to get a fire going, you could probably eat a lot of it, if you made sure that any hazardous bacteria were eliminated.

I’d be so scared to just walk into a jungle though lol. I saw a movie called Cannibal Holocaust, filmed in Brazil, with actual indigenous folk. Now I wouldn’t be afraid of cannibals or whatever, but in that movie, they show that even just WALKING in the jungle unprepared is almost guaranteed death. It was a low budget movie, but it was filmed in Brazil with natives who obviously knew their shit. Having a big pair of boots would be handy…or full body armor lol.

As to help I would welcome it but also be wary. Very vulnerable position to be in. Try to observe them from a distance before approaching.

Just this point; I don’t believe it would be possible at all to observe natives living in the jungle for some time, then decide what to do. They would probably be aware of you hours before you ever discovered them, since it’s been their element for years. :/

@Symbeline I loved the question it was fun. I hope I would remember some of my advice given that situation happened to me. Geeze just making it to shore alive and then having to cope with the fact that I was alone and without resources in a scary unknown place for an indefinite period of time… That would be hard to deal with.

Especially since one would have to skip the coping and switch right into action.

Yeah the jungle would be scary! Where would I be going, would there be nearby civilization would it be friendly, would I know? And then the unfamiliar dangers. What should I be worried about? The animals the plants getting hurt twisting an ankle the poison’s!!! OMG Yeah the jungle might be last resort for me.

You made a good point about the native’s. Even poacher’s or scientist or whomever would be present would know more then I. Automatic disadvantage. But how else are you going to get back to society. Some risks you just have to take. If they found me first the option would be taken away. I don’t think I would be too focused on hiding though because one could only survive for so long under the circumstances. If they are hostile. Well whatcha gonna do?

I’m folding up this thread and keeping it in my pocket for a rainy and stormy day if I should ever get stranded on a desert (ed) Island.

Watch out for demented fuckers talking to volleyballs, or giant gorillas that answer to the name Kong…oh & if you see Tarzan stay well clear, he’ll rape your milky white arse, ever since Jane left him for a pigmy hippo named Jeremy, he’s become extremely volatile.

In order to survive in any environment – including your own home – you need to prioritize and address necessities. The jungle environment (or deserted island, or northern temperate forest, or whatever) simply introduces “different priorities”.

For example, if you were shipwrecked on a tropical island, warm shelter would not take on the priority than being shipwrecked along the coast of Greenland in the winter time. “Food supplies” are almost never a high priority. Humans are omnivores, so we can eat a very wide range of flora and fauna, and we don’t need to eat “right now”, so finding fresh water to drink will more than likely be a very high priority wherever you are.

Shelter from predators takes on more priority in some parts of the world more than others. Predators on most tropical islands, for example, are much less prevalent than in most American cities. I’m not talking about four-legged predators.

As to eating, if you’re attempting to find strange new foods in an unfamiliar place (such as when I shop at the local bodega instead of Stop & Shop), you probably won’t go wrong if you attempt to eat “small quantities” of anything that looks interesting and common. If it’s poisonous, then the small quantity that you ate might make you somewhat ill or uncomfortable, and you’d remember not to eat that again.

I would be on the lookout for the corpses of those who did not make it. Human flesh contains all the nutriets you need, and most humans don’t have a venom sack that you need to watch out for.

I would also be on the lookout for any animal I can turn in to a pet, so I can feed it things I suspect could be poisonous, to see what happens to it.

I would also make fire one of my priorities, as it will keep predators away, keep you warm, and help you kill bacteria in things that you cook.

As for water, I would look to the leaves, and try to get water from rain.

Everything you need to know

If you were not already vaccinated for Typhoid and Malaria it would only be a matter of time before you, most likely, fell ill and potentially died, regardless of finding shelter and knowing what plants, fruits were safe to eat and uncontaminated water sources like rain water collected in leaves and bromeliad plants. Like a few frog eggs with your drinking water? lol
I have been researching moving to central/south america recently, and the human bot fly is a major problem in certain areas.
Pythons, Anacondas, Crocodiles ( the last dip in the river you’ll ever take) numerous poisonous snakes and Leopards or Jaguars would be on the lookout for some tasty human meat too.

A tree house would afford a good view of marauding predators, but jungle cats and huge snakes climb trees with ease. On the ground you are very vulnerable, but, if a Jaguar or Python corners you in your tree house your only chance is to jump.
Some choice, eaten or crushed to death in a tree, or hitting the ground injured and still succumbing to the same fate when the cat or snake comes down after your injured carcass. haha

Hippos kill a lot of people too, they are huge and bad tempered even if they are vegetarians.
Army ants could make your life miserable too.
The only way to be survive being stranded in the jungle is to be in a 5 star resort. lol

You’re a SEAL Stranded in Hostile Territory: What’s in Your Survival Kit?

Read more: http://nation.time.com/2013/02/21/youre-a-seal-stranded-in-hostile-territory-whats-in-your-survival-kit/#ixzz2LwLjkblT

TIME mag.

Thought of your question.