4 Animals to be on the Lookout for While Bugging Out in the Desert

scorpion

Some of these may be all too obvious but it’s always good to be reminded about what you may have to face. After all, even on a good day, you do not want to be cornered by a wild animal or a group of furious bees!

Rattlesnakes:
A frightened rattlesnake will probably just give you a little “love bite” to warn you away. You've no doubt heard that rattlesnakes are venomous and that's absolutely true, but the rattlesnake can decide just how much venom to give you along with a bite, much as a doctor can decide how much medicine to inject from a hypodermic. If the snake isn't angry, it might not inject any venom at all. On the other hand, if you've stomped on it with the corrugated soles of your hiking boots, it may decide it wants to give you a lesson you'll never forget.
Rattlesnake venom can take anywhere from 6 to 48 hours to kill the victim, so whip out your phone, call 911, and see if the local emergency response team can send an ambulance (or, better yet, a helicopter) to get you some antivenin medicine immediately. And, if it makes you feel better while you're waiting for the medtechs to arrive, remind yourself that thousands of people are bitten by venomous snakes each year and only about five die. But get on that phone fast (or have someone drive you to the nearest doctor) anyway. You don't want to be one of those five.
Cougars:
Also known as pumas, mountain lions and by a few other names as well, are found over most of north, south and Central America. They live from northern Canada all the way south to Argentina. You don't find them in as many places as you might have at one time, however, because civilization and hunters have driven them away from places with large populations, but they're still common in the American southwest. Mountain lions are predators, but fortunately humans aren't their normal prey. Nonetheless, every couple of years some unlucky person meets a cougar who doesn't seem to understand the “humans-aren't-prey” rule, maybe because the human is injured and looks like easy pickings. So mountain lion attacks, though rare, are still a threat to be taken seriously. And when one happens, the attack can be vicious. Mountain lions go for the neck and a bite from their sharp teeth can be fatal.
Scorpions:
(They) are strange animals. They can live for months on a single meal, slowing down their metabolisms until they're practically in suspended animation, yet can spring back to life almost instantly if they detect prey. They can be frozen overnight and thawed out the next day, none the worse for frost bite. There are about 2,000 varieties of scorpion worldwide, including many varieties that live in the desert, and all of them are poisonous.
But don't worry. Most of them don't have enough poison in their glands, or the right variety of poison, to kill a human being. Most — but not all.
Killer Bees:
Also known as Africanized honey bees, really shouldn't exist in the Americas at all. They were the result of a crossbreeding experiment between European and African bees performed in the 1950s in Brazil in an attempt to come up with a hybrid bee that could survive the tropical climate. The crossbreeding worked and the hybrid bees tend to produce more honey than European honeybees, but some of the hybrid bees got loose and mated with the local bee population. This produced an extremely aggressive strain of “Africanized” bees that, while having a sting that's no more poisonous than that of your average honeybee, is far more likely to defend its hives by attacking in large swarms. Africanized bees can detect intruders on their territory, such as humans, at longer distances than other bees and will chase those intruders for longer distances too. Africanized bees are like tiny, heat-seeking missiles. When they get on your trail, it's difficult to get them off.

 If it sounds like bugging out in the dessert is not a safe thing to do, you are probably right. Yet, it really is no less safe in the forest or even bugging-in, having to worry about predators of another kind. The key is to be careful. Keep your eyes and ears open and put up preventative barriers between you and the creatures of the wild, particularly at night when you are trying to sleep.

Keep that snake and scorpion bite kit handy at all times and, if possible, attempt to get to a doctor if you are stung or bitten. If you are too far out this may not be possible so – again – watch yourself and do not take any crazy chances. They are called “wild” for more reasons than because they live in the wilderness!

As Adventure says, keep a watchful eye out for these creatures!


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