Dual Survival — “Bitten”

First, a reminder that there is a new “Dual Survival” on tonight, 9:00pm on the Discovery Channel. This episode is “Frozen Plains” and takes place in Montana in the winter. Here’s the official description:

The hosts pose as stranded ranchers on the windy plains in winter, where they must use an ax head, a bison hide, a glass jar, a metal tin and a steel striker to survive.

Last week’s episode was “Bitten”, in the jungles of Thailand. If you missed it, it will be reshown at 8:00pm, just before “Frozen Plains”.

I really liked this one (well, I do like them all). Jungles are in one way quite conducive to bare feet (no foot-rot fungus), but you also have to really look out for hazards. As Dave said early on:

Cody’s barefoot; Cody’s in shorts. You have to pay attention to every step you take and every handle you put your hands into, because of the insects, the snakes, the spiders. All of those things just wait for you to put hyour hand or your foot into the wrong place.

I’m not so sure about the shorts, but the bare feet might actually increase one’s awareness. When you are walking barefoot, you really do need to pay more attention and you are more aware of your surroundings. So that might be protective.

They were also concerned about a cobra bite, and again Dave was concerned about Cody’s bare feet. A study, Cobra-bites, suggests that may not be as dangerous as it sounds. According to the study of 47 patients bitten by the common cobra in Malaysia does show 25 bites to toes or feet, but of those, 18 had no poison or were negligible, and none were fatal. 10 of those bites were to the leg, with 7 non-negligible. So, shoes may not be as protective as one might think. I guess this is not all that surprising: cobras raise up, so if they bite, there is a good chance of getting you on the leg. If they don’t, it is probably because they are so far away that they barely nick you on the foot or toe.

There were a few other neat barefooting scenes . . .

While climbing down a bit of a cliff, Dave grabbed a tree, bent it over, and nearly ripped it out of the ground while climbing down. Cody just grabbed the dirt with his toes, and descended easily. (I often do the same.) This nicely illustrates the differences in ethos between Dave and Cody. Dave is a stomper; Cody a minimalist.

One other thing I found particularly interesting was when Dave used the tobacco to help repel leeches. You might not be aware that tobacco, tomatoes, potatoes, chilis, and eggplants are all part of the same family, solanaceae, which has a lot of alkaloids in them. I bet the leave of any of them would have done a similar job. It is only the fruits of those plants (well, not the tobacco) that are edible — never eat the leaves.

Interestingly, a town near me, Reynoldsburg, has a tomato festival, and they advertise themselves as the “Birthplace of the Tomato”. That is probably a real surprise to the Aztecs and other Mexicans, who have been eating them from time immemorial. The reason Reynoldsburg gets its claim to fame is that, in the United States, because of the alkaloid leaves, people thought it unfit for eating. It was Alexander Livingston of Reynoldsburg who developed the first tomato bred for commercial use.

One final note: in this episode they pointed out the sharp limestone. Like most sharp objects, it can be walked on barefoot. The secret is not to let your foot slide. The skin on the foot (and actually, any skin) can be cut when sliced, but it is quite resistant to punctures. It might be unpleasant to walk on such limestone, but as long as you don’t let your feet slide you are not in much danger.

[Note: The original of this entry kept using “Dual Survivor” instead of the correct “Dual Survival”. I have now corrected it.]