Would You Eat Centipedes to Survive?

Centipedes are in the news today. Sky News reports that one very lucky hiker, Derek Mamoyac, was rescued off the western portion of Mount Adams after he had gone missing for about five days. His ankle broken, he was forced to crawl through snow covered terrain and use bugs - specifically centipedes -- as nourishment in an effort to survive.

Most anyone with a satellite dish or cable television has become privy to the exploits of the Travel Channel's Andrew Zimmern who will eat anything at least once; and of course my personal favourite, Discovery's Bear Grylls who not only squeezes urine on his head, but also eats the most frightening critters of any persuasion - usually raw.

It is the latter who transcends the culinary voyeurism television viewers enjoy - and which has become an indispensible part of shows such as Fear Factor - and attaches the real life survival skills to his choice of nourishment. Mr. Mamoyac may have had to overcome an initial squeamishness of eating the kinds of bugs that might normally inspire a call to the exterminator, but if you were finding yourself in the same situation, would you, too, eat bugs?

More apropos, would you begin eating them early on, in an effort to keep up your strength and better your odds of being rescued alive, or would you wait until nearly crazed with hunger and physically weak before biting into a juice centipede? As you might surmise, waiting too long may leave you so physically weakened that even an eventual rescue might arrive too late for you.

There are actual businesses that have come into being on the premise of teaching people the forgotten art of basic wilderness survival. LSS, the operators of the "Learn Survival Skills" website, make a good point when reminding visitors that something as innocuous as a weekend camping trip can quickly go wrong and turn deadly - unless you know what to do when all else fails.

Remember, Derek Mamoyac waved goodbye to his friends in the full expectation of only going on a daytrip. He did not expect to be stranded for about five days in freezing temperatures and with a broken ankle. Could you have survived the ordeal?

Sources:

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/US-Climber-Survives-On-Centipedes-After-Breaking-Ankle-On-Washingtons-Mount-Adams/Article/200810315123689; http://www.andrewzimmern.com/; http://www.beargrylls.com/; http://www.learnsurvivalskills.org/