I Can Survive in Rainforest Like Robinson Crusoe
- Zooey
According to an article I read recently, the rainforest ecosystem is a rich resource environment including various plants and animals. It produces an abundant supply of oxygen for earth by creating three layers of life, the canopy, understory, and the third layer under a wet, hot, and humid environment with sunshine all year long. Since it also has more rain than any other area, the word 「rainforest」 implies the world’s wettest ecosystems. Tropical rainforests are mainly located between the latitudes of 23.5°N and 23.5°S, mostly found in Central and South America, western and central Africa, western India, Southeast Asia, the island of New Guinea, and Australia. Can I survive in a rainforest? In my opinion, I believe yes, we can.
First, to survive, people need to set up shelter, make clothes, and find food for our daily life. We can utilize the rich resources in a rainforest to make it happen. For instance, we can use branches to make a tent and leaves to tie sticks together. During the winter, we can build fires to warm up our tents. We can also wear leaves and grasses to cover our body and fur from animals to keep us warm. We can hunt animals as food and cook them on the fire, using sharp rocks or stone as hunting equipment or lighting a torch as a weapon, just as ancient tribes did. Rainforests also have over 3,000 fruits alone, many vegetables, numerous amounts of grains, and daily spices like cinnamon and ginger. Simply consuming those natural foods and drinking fresh water from the streams, I am so sure we won’t make us hungry in this lush territory.
Second, we need to stay safe in the wild. There are many dangerous animals in rainforests such as tigers, snakes, jaguars, bobcats, lions, etc. In order to be protected, we should always keep a lookout, prepare for the worst, and have our sharp hunting weapons close by. When we meet up with a hungry animal, use the tools and try to fight it off. In front of a gigantic beast, take cover under a shelter where the predator cannot get in or find us. On the other hand, if we get hurt, there are many rich herbs that can help us in the rainforest such as bitter melon for bleeding, comfrey for broken bones, borage for belly aches and fevers, catmint for soothing pain, etc. Even with these herbs, it is best not to hurt yourself in the wild.
Finally, we may feel lonely in the wild, what can be the solution? We can make friends with gentle animals like deer or sloths. Personally, I have the ability to get along with animals all the time. Once, when I went to the zoo, and every animal was having their afternoon nap except for one naughty guinea pig, the greedy creature crawled onto my arms and I started petting it. The guinea pig calmed down and enjoyed my company. The same experience happened with the hermit crab. Making friends with animals requires hard efforts and a warm heart, but it is totally possible. Some people have buffalos as pets, others tamed lions! Animal friends will not only be your company when we are sad, but they can teach us their living style. In the rainforests, if I consistently learn about animals and sincerely care for them, I truly believe I can find my best animal companions to help me survive in the wild.
「The rainforest holds answers to questions we have yet asked.」 Our rainforest is full of secrets waiting for us to discover them. The richest medicine we have today is mostly made up of our rainforests』 herbs, plants, flowers, and trees. Have you ever wondered how these precious resources were found? Many ancient tribes have lived in tropical rainforests many years ago when their homes were in huts and tents. Even as of today, still over 50,000,000 tribal people living in our rainforests such as the Pygmies, the Huli, the Yanomami, etc. This makes me more confident that I can survive in a rainforest. It will be full of adventures, but I do believe it is possible.
I Cannot Survive in Rainforest Like Robinson Crusoe
- Zooey
About rainforest: According to an article I read recently, the rainforest ecosystem is a rich resource environment including various plants and animals. Informative sentences: The weather in the tropical rainforest is always hot and humid. Temperatures can easily rise to mid 90° F, but the humidity makes people feels much hotter. This condition would make life there very uncomfortable. Also, too much rain can cause our crops to rot. Environmental challenges will make us hard to survive in a rainforest.
First, in order to survive, people need to meet the physiological needs, having proper food, water, and shelter, etc. Although we can easily find many fruits and animals to eat in rainforest, we do not know which ones are poisonous and which are not. People may die from eating and touching venomous plants or meat. Also, a healthy person requires varieties of nutrients and vitamins, while in the forest we can only eat whatever we find. Missing a certain nutrient for a long time will cause serious damage to our body. Additionally, we may build a shelter to live, however when extreme weather occurs like lightning, our home, made up of leaves, branches, and sticks, will be easily destroyed! If we happen to stay inside, we will possibly die. You may say how about we live in caves! However, living in a cave also has many problems for a person. Moisture is a large problem with living in a cave. Rainforest do not even have proper drains, but even with appropriate tools, a cave is not a good idea, especially in an easily flooded area. Another problem can be not enough light. That will cause everything to be dark and black homes are very scary. Living without natural light can be gloomy and will have a major effect on the physiological needs.
Second, we need meet our safety requirements to survive in the rainforest. However, we have many animals to fear of. Large and ferocious predators include caiman, jaguar, eagles, anacondas, lions, etc. When we are living peacefully in our huts and suddenly we meet with the hungry predators, we cannot fight off a lion or black caiman! Yes, some herbs in rainforest may help to heal the wounds, but what if we become the greedy animal’s meal and get devoured? We don’t even have time even escape. Don’t try to fight off an animal ten times our size. We have lost the battle.
Finally, according to the maslow's hierarchy of needs, people need love and belongings to survive.We have no family or friends to play or talk to in a rainforest. Living a life in a rainforest can be lonely and boring if just eating, working, and sleeping. We need to have company to help us when we are hurt; we need to have family and friends support when we are down; we need to have someone to help us with teamwork; we need to have someone to be there to fight a battle. Unfortunately, alone in a rainforest cannot meet those conditions and we may mentally get very sick from sadness and depression. We need to know that our family is safe and not too far from us.
Animals and trees are part of a rainforest, therefore they can survive well in a rainforest. However, for people like you and me, there are so many mysteries simply because we don’t have enough studying about rainforests. When mosquitoes spread Malaria and yellow fever, how can we treat it? When steam commonly rises from the ground on those days when it’s not raining, how can we prevent it from burning your skin? We still have too many uncovered secret about rainforest, for this reason, I believe I cannot survive in a rainforest.