"Assignment Type A: Survival in a Biome"
Survival in the Tropical Rain Forest:
Bibliography:
Barwood, Aileen V., "Life Under 150 inches of Rain." "Science Digest, 10-63, pp.18-21
Bates, Marston, "Exploring the Rain Forest," "Science Digest, 7-60, pp. 53-57
Carr, Archie, "The Tropical Rain Forest," in "The Land and Wildlife of Africa," New York: Time Life Books, 1964.
Turnbull, Colin M., "Wayward Servants, New York: The Natural History Press, 1965.
Johnson, James R., "Camping for Your Life," in "Advanced Camping Techniques," New York: David McKay Co., 1967
Angier, Bradford, "How to Live in the Woods on Pennies a Day," Pennsylvania: Stackpole Books, 1971
Curry-Lindahl, Kai, "Plains and Green Woods," in "Europe," New York: Chanticleer Press, 1964
Farb, Peter, "The Forest," New York: Time Life Books, 1961
Bourliere, Francois, "A Forest Primeval and its Survivors," in "The Land and Wildlife of Eurasia," New York: Time Life Books, 1964
Survival in the Tropical Rain Forest:
When I was first stranded in the tropical rain forest, my first problem was food and shelter. To attain these things, I had very few man-made resources: some thin underwear which covered most of my body; a pair of heavy boots that reached above my knees; three square meters of good strong thick canvas; thirty meters of wire with a diameter of two millimeters; five large safety pins which measured fifteen centimeters in length; a large hunting knife with ten centimeters of blade protruding from the handle; and an unlimited supply of matches with their heads dipped in wax to waterproof them.
I knew there would not be an expedition through this area for three months and until then I would have to make it on my own. The question of food was an important one so I decided to rely on gathering it. I searched for the sweet itaba and similar roots. They were the easiest to find and acquire because of it's tell-tale vine which you can follow along the ground, and then grub with a stick for the roots when you come to the origin of the vine. Some foods which I had easy access to were many varieties of nuts, various berries, and some succulent fruits like bananas. To my surprise, many of the plant foods grow all year round in the tropical rain forest. One of the most available and desirable was manioc tops which had a pleasant taste when cooked like spinach.
After I had built up a fairly good cache of vegetables, I turned to the problem of shelter. It was raining heavily and dusk was approaching so I decided to prop up a very crude temporary home for the night. There was very little problem concerning space for most of the vegetation reached high to get as much sunlight as possible to carry on photosynthesis. My sleeping quarters for the night, which was my canvas propped up with sticks and rocks as weights, kept me fairly dry and sufficed for that one night.
I had cut my underwear into two parts, a top and a bottom. Also, I cut the legs of the bottom underwear up to the beginning of the thigh part. I rarely wore the top part of my underwear because the temperature in the rain forest never dipped below seventy degrees Fahrenheit. Likewise, I never was that warm as to need to take off my bottom underwear because the temperature rarely rose above ninety degrees. The excess trimmings of underwear was stored away in case of a need for bandages arises. Since my stay in the rain forest was during the "rainy season," the amount of precipitation was extensive. The actual rainfall per year averages from seventy to eighty inches and it was a rarity for a day to pass without some precipitation. With all this rainfall, it was evident to me that I needed some good shelter.
When I woke in the morning, I set off on the task of looking for shelter. The main thing I looked for was termitariums which are huge mounds, usually about five meters high. There was always that chance of finding one that had been abandoned by the termite inhabitants. Later in the day after I had had two meals of different berries and nuts, I came upon the aforementioned mound. As I looked at it, I thought of what a perfect temporary home it would be. With it's hard shell and walls that maintained an ideal even temperature and moisture that the termite needs. I had to be careful when I checked to see if it was abandoned because strong-jawed soldier termites will pour out to defend their nests. I took a good sized stick and punctured a hole in it and almost instantaneously a stream of large termites appeared! Quickly, I retreated while I watched, in fascination, the small workers scurrying about to repair the damage. This was a disappointment because I had to spend another night in my inadequate canvas shelter.
The next morning I was determined to find shelter and shortly after setting off to find it, I came upon another termitarium and this time it was freshly abandoned.
I spent the rest of the day hollowing it out with a piece of wood that I hastily whittled into a shovel-like instrument. Small plants had already taken root in the mound so I had to cut them down. When I finished the hollowing out and the shaping of the door, I took the seven meters of my wire, which I approximated when I cut it off with my knife, and cut it into fourteen equal lengths. With each one-half meter of wire, I bounded and strengthened the perimeter of the opening in the termitarium. Also supported it with a few long sticks. I also used a six decimeter, by two meter, piece of canvas to cover the opening. I attached this with two large safety pins. In front of my opening, I packed soil so the water from the rain would drain away. To keep water out of my home, I made some mud chevrons, which were similar to ones termites make, above my crude door to act as a gutter to deflect rain from my door. I made my primitive bed with the remaining thick canvas and readily fell asleep because it was already dark.
When my underwear needed washing, I laid them wet on a flat rock and beat them with a wooden paddle that I had carved. After I had finished fixing up the termitarium, I cleared away a fairly dry spot right outside it. I gathered the driest wood I could find and using the dry nesting material from the mound as a starter, I started a fire with a few matches. I used this fire to cook the vegetables that I gathered. When it started to rain, the fire was extinguished so I had to wait until it stopped to make my next fire.
The rest of the three months, I lived in the termitarium. When I knew that it was time for me to be rescued, I made a fire in the usual way, then I put a good amount of nesting material on it so that a column of smoke rose. This insured my rescue and it turned out that when I was saved, the smoke from the fire did, indeed, help!
Survival in the Late Fall Temperate Deciduous Forest:
To help me survive in a dynamic and colorful autumn forest for three months, I had the following things: Some fairly thin underwear with long sleeves and legs; a pair of good boots that barely reached my ankles; three square meters of good strong canvas; fifteen meters of fish line of forty-pound monofilament; fifteen meters of snare wire made of stainless steel in a diameter of one millimeter; five large safety pins with a length of fifteen centimeters; a large hunting knife with ten centimeters of blade; and, fortunately, an unlimited supply of matches.
As soon as I was stranded, I started looking for a campsite. I found a small suitable clearing for my purpose next to a group of Walnut and Yellowwood trees. For the meantime I had acorns, beechnuts, berries, and chestnuts to feed upon. After a small meal of acorns and berries was consumed, I propped up my canvas with sticks and used rocks as weights to construct my sleeping facility.
First thing the next morning, I started making a primitive bow and arrow. I whittled a piece of wood for the fish line which was attached to it. Next, I whittled some strips of wood into sharp arrows. It did not release too well, but if I got close enough to my prey, my bow and arrow worked fine. Another hunting weapon that I made was a snare. I attached the stainless steel wire in a loop onto a stick. I was never able to catch anything with the snare after several attempts.
After a few days of profitless hunting, I spotted a hedgehog. This was a prickly little animal that weighed about ten pounds. I knew the bow and arrow would be useless against it. So I charged at it with my snare. When I did this , it just rolled up in a ball with only it's sharp spines showing. To combat it, I picked up a large rock and thrust it down upon the hedgehog's skull. I repeated this to make sure he was dead.
When I returned to my campsite, I skinned, and prepared the animal to be cooked. I dug a hole in soft dirt with a wooden shovel that I had carved. The hole was three times the size of the meat and the sides were sloped a bit. I lined the sides and bottom of the pit with rocks that had flat bottoms so they would not roll down the sides of the small embankment. I then built a brisk fire in it and let it burn until the pit was filled with hot coals. I scooped the coals out and poured in approximately a quart of water over the sizzling hot stones. Then I placed a thick layer of broad-leafed leaves over the stones, and placed the meat, wrapped in a small piece of my canvas, in the hole. Over the meat I placed the hot coals then dirt to seal in the heat and steam. After a short time passed by which I thought to be three hours, I removed the meat and ate part of it, saving some for later. Every once in a while I managed to catch a crayfish, by scooping them out of the water with a piece of my canvas. Mercifully, this way I had cooked fish sometimes too.
I was careful to pick a spot at least one hundred feet slightly downhill from my campsite and remote from my source of drinking water for my latrine.
I spent a lot of my spare time whittling. Slowly, I made wooden spoons and other eating utensils with the knife to make my life a bit more comfortable. I even managed to carve out a small cup for drinking. To protect my knife from rust, I rubbed animal fat on it.
One drink that I was able to make was coffee, but instead of coffee beans I used acorns I had found the day before above a nearby ridge. I brewed the beverage by removing the meat from the acorn and baking it in a pit fire. I pulverized the parched acorns between stones after they were done being baked. Then I placed some of the grounds in my wooden cup and added cold water. I had to add cold water because I had no way of boiling it at the time. I did lightly warm the quenching drink by placing it near a fire, but I made sure the cup did not burn. This nutty drink supplemented my other foods nicely.
When I knew my rescuers were near, I made a large smoke fire so that the smoke would guide them to my campsite. Not long after it was built, the smoke fire worked.
Comparison:
In the rain forest, I had very little to do and my food varied little. Also, I had problems building fires because of the dampness and longevity of the rain. Although there were many disadvantages in the rain forest, the termite mound I found served very well as a home.
In the deciduous forest I had pastimes to keep myself busy like whittling spoons, figures, and so on. Also, I had cooked meat, and even a cooked fish once in a while. I did not only drink water because I made a warm acorn drink once a day. Although there were many advantages in the deciduous over the rain forest, my sleeping place could have been improved greatly, since I got soaked several times when sudden downpours came.
Whichever biome I was in, I had to remember these things: Keep my head, save my energy, think things out and size up my situation, plan a sensible course of action, and most of all, cheerfulness and a determination to live!
I knew there would not be an expedition through this area for three months and until then I would have to make it on my own. The question of food was an important one so I decided to rely on gathering it. I searched for the sweet itaba and similar roots. They were the easiest to find and acquire because of it's tell-tale vine which you can follow along the ground, and then grub with a stick for the roots when you come to the origin of the vine. Some foods which I had easy access to were many varieties of nuts, various berries, and some succulent fruits like bananas. To my surprise, many of the plant foods grow all year round in the tropical rain forest. One of the most available and desirable was manioc tops which had a pleasant taste when cooked like spinach.
After I had built up a fairly good cache of vegetables, I turned to the problem of shelter. It was raining heavily and dusk was approaching so I decided to prop up a very crude temporary home for the night. There was very little problem concerning space for most of the vegetation reached high to get as much sunlight as possible to carry on photosynthesis. My sleeping quarters for the night, which was my canvas propped up with sticks and rocks as weights, kept me fairly dry and sufficed for that one night.
I had cut my underwear into two parts, a top and a bottom. Also, I cut the legs of the bottom underwear up to the beginning of the thigh part. I rarely wore the top part of my underwear because the temperature in the rain forest never dipped below seventy degrees Fahrenheit. Likewise, I never was that warm as to need to take off my bottom underwear because the temperature rarely rose above ninety degrees. The excess trimmings of underwear was stored away in case of a need for bandages arises. Since my stay in the rain forest was during the "rainy season," the amount of precipitation was extensive. The actual rainfall per year averages from seventy to eighty inches and it was a rarity for a day to pass without some precipitation. With all this rainfall, it was evident to me that I needed some good shelter.
When I woke in the morning, I set off on the task of looking for shelter. The main thing I looked for was termitariums which are huge mounds, usually about five meters high. There was always that chance of finding one that had been abandoned by the termite inhabitants. Later in the day after I had had two meals of different berries and nuts, I came upon the aforementioned mound. As I looked at it, I thought of what a perfect temporary home it would be. With it's hard shell and walls that maintained an ideal even temperature and moisture that the termite needs. I had to be careful when I checked to see if it was abandoned because strong-jawed soldier termites will pour out to defend their nests. I took a good sized stick and punctured a hole in it and almost instantaneously a stream of large termites appeared! Quickly, I retreated while I watched, in fascination, the small workers scurrying about to repair the damage. This was a disappointment because I had to spend another night in my inadequate canvas shelter.
The next morning I was determined to find shelter and shortly after setting off to find it, I came upon another termitarium and this time it was freshly abandoned.
I spent the rest of the day hollowing it out with a piece of wood that I hastily whittled into a shovel-like instrument. Small plants had already taken root in the mound so I had to cut them down. When I finished the hollowing out and the shaping of the door, I took the seven meters of my wire, which I approximated when I cut it off with my knife, and cut it into fourteen equal lengths. With each one-half meter of wire, I bounded and strengthened the perimeter of the opening in the termitarium. Also supported it with a few long sticks. I also used a six decimeter, by two meter, piece of canvas to cover the opening. I attached this with two large safety pins. In front of my opening, I packed soil so the water from the rain would drain away. To keep water out of my home, I made some mud chevrons, which were similar to ones termites make, above my crude door to act as a gutter to deflect rain from my door. I made my primitive bed with the remaining thick canvas and readily fell asleep because it was already dark.
When my underwear needed washing, I laid them wet on a flat rock and beat them with a wooden paddle that I had carved. After I had finished fixing up the termitarium, I cleared away a fairly dry spot right outside it. I gathered the driest wood I could find and using the dry nesting material from the mound as a starter, I started a fire with a few matches. I used this fire to cook the vegetables that I gathered. When it started to rain, the fire was extinguished so I had to wait until it stopped to make my next fire.
The rest of the three months, I lived in the termitarium. When I knew that it was time for me to be rescued, I made a fire in the usual way, then I put a good amount of nesting material on it so that a column of smoke rose. This insured my rescue and it turned out that when I was saved, the smoke from the fire did, indeed, help!
Survival in the Late Fall Temperate Deciduous Forest:
To help me survive in a dynamic and colorful autumn forest for three months, I had the following things: Some fairly thin underwear with long sleeves and legs; a pair of good boots that barely reached my ankles; three square meters of good strong canvas; fifteen meters of fish line of forty-pound monofilament; fifteen meters of snare wire made of stainless steel in a diameter of one millimeter; five large safety pins with a length of fifteen centimeters; a large hunting knife with ten centimeters of blade; and, fortunately, an unlimited supply of matches.
As soon as I was stranded, I started looking for a campsite. I found a small suitable clearing for my purpose next to a group of Walnut and Yellowwood trees. For the meantime I had acorns, beechnuts, berries, and chestnuts to feed upon. After a small meal of acorns and berries was consumed, I propped up my canvas with sticks and used rocks as weights to construct my sleeping facility.
First thing the next morning, I started making a primitive bow and arrow. I whittled a piece of wood for the fish line which was attached to it. Next, I whittled some strips of wood into sharp arrows. It did not release too well, but if I got close enough to my prey, my bow and arrow worked fine. Another hunting weapon that I made was a snare. I attached the stainless steel wire in a loop onto a stick. I was never able to catch anything with the snare after several attempts.
After a few days of profitless hunting, I spotted a hedgehog. This was a prickly little animal that weighed about ten pounds. I knew the bow and arrow would be useless against it. So I charged at it with my snare. When I did this , it just rolled up in a ball with only it's sharp spines showing. To combat it, I picked up a large rock and thrust it down upon the hedgehog's skull. I repeated this to make sure he was dead.
When I returned to my campsite, I skinned, and prepared the animal to be cooked. I dug a hole in soft dirt with a wooden shovel that I had carved. The hole was three times the size of the meat and the sides were sloped a bit. I lined the sides and bottom of the pit with rocks that had flat bottoms so they would not roll down the sides of the small embankment. I then built a brisk fire in it and let it burn until the pit was filled with hot coals. I scooped the coals out and poured in approximately a quart of water over the sizzling hot stones. Then I placed a thick layer of broad-leafed leaves over the stones, and placed the meat, wrapped in a small piece of my canvas, in the hole. Over the meat I placed the hot coals then dirt to seal in the heat and steam. After a short time passed by which I thought to be three hours, I removed the meat and ate part of it, saving some for later. Every once in a while I managed to catch a crayfish, by scooping them out of the water with a piece of my canvas. Mercifully, this way I had cooked fish sometimes too.
I was careful to pick a spot at least one hundred feet slightly downhill from my campsite and remote from my source of drinking water for my latrine.
I spent a lot of my spare time whittling. Slowly, I made wooden spoons and other eating utensils with the knife to make my life a bit more comfortable. I even managed to carve out a small cup for drinking. To protect my knife from rust, I rubbed animal fat on it.
One drink that I was able to make was coffee, but instead of coffee beans I used acorns I had found the day before above a nearby ridge. I brewed the beverage by removing the meat from the acorn and baking it in a pit fire. I pulverized the parched acorns between stones after they were done being baked. Then I placed some of the grounds in my wooden cup and added cold water. I had to add cold water because I had no way of boiling it at the time. I did lightly warm the quenching drink by placing it near a fire, but I made sure the cup did not burn. This nutty drink supplemented my other foods nicely.
When I knew my rescuers were near, I made a large smoke fire so that the smoke would guide them to my campsite. Not long after it was built, the smoke fire worked.
Comparison:
In the rain forest, I had very little to do and my food varied little. Also, I had problems building fires because of the dampness and longevity of the rain. Although there were many disadvantages in the rain forest, the termite mound I found served very well as a home.
In the deciduous forest I had pastimes to keep myself busy like whittling spoons, figures, and so on. Also, I had cooked meat, and even a cooked fish once in a while. I did not only drink water because I made a warm acorn drink once a day. Although there were many advantages in the deciduous over the rain forest, my sleeping place could have been improved greatly, since I got soaked several times when sudden downpours came.
Whichever biome I was in, I had to remember these things: Keep my head, save my energy, think things out and size up my situation, plan a sensible course of action, and most of all, cheerfulness and a determination to live!
Bibliography:
Barwood, Aileen V., "Life Under 150 inches of Rain." "Science Digest, 10-63, pp.18-21
Bates, Marston, "Exploring the Rain Forest," "Science Digest, 7-60, pp. 53-57
Carr, Archie, "The Tropical Rain Forest," in "The Land and Wildlife of Africa," New York: Time Life Books, 1964.
Turnbull, Colin M., "Wayward Servants, New York: The Natural History Press, 1965.
Johnson, James R., "Camping for Your Life," in "Advanced Camping Techniques," New York: David McKay Co., 1967
Angier, Bradford, "How to Live in the Woods on Pennies a Day," Pennsylvania: Stackpole Books, 1971
Curry-Lindahl, Kai, "Plains and Green Woods," in "Europe," New York: Chanticleer Press, 1964
Farb, Peter, "The Forest," New York: Time Life Books, 1961
Bourliere, Francois, "A Forest Primeval and its Survivors," in "The Land and Wildlife of Eurasia," New York: Time Life Books, 1964
