• Question: If humans got put Into the wild how long will it take for us to adapt?

    Asked by to Lewis on 20 Mar 2014. This question was also asked by .
    • Photo: Lewis Dean

      Lewis Dean answered on 20 Mar 2014:

      Well, it depends on what you mean by ‘the wild’! Humans live in a huge range of different environments all around the world. For example the Innuit in Canada live in some of the coldest conditions on Earth, the !Kung (the first letter is a click) live in the incredibly dry Kalahari desert and the Ache live in rain forests of Paraguay.

      Although there are some differences in the bodies of people who live in different areas, the main way that humans cope with their environment is through their culture. They have learned how to survive and children learn these skills from their parents and other elders.

      So, if you or I got parachuted into an environment that we knew nothing about, we would probably not do very well by ourselves. However, if we were fortunate enough to meet people who lived there (and they wanted to help us), we would probably learn quite quickly.

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