You're stranded in the Amazon: What do you do?

Picture this scenario; you're sitting at home, watching television and eating your favourite snacks. The doorbell suddenly rings, and you answer it without thinking about it. There are two people at the door who violently grab you and put a pillowcase over your head. You cannot escape and you're out and thrown into a van and driven somewhere far.

You're then carried onto a jet and they take the pillowcase off your head. They tell you, "Congratulations, you're the new contestant of our show! You have to survive in the Amazon Rainforest alone for 3 days and try to make some meals using the resources there. Good luck."

How would you catch your protein?

If you eat meat and it's your main star of the dish, what would you make? First of all, you would need to catch it, and you would need to make special tools using the plants or trees around you. Would you catch fish and eat it raw like sashimi, or focus on catching some sort of poultry and try to start a fire? Or would you go on an insect diet, since insects are high in protein too, and have a buffet with 2.5 million different insect species to choose from?

What dish would you try to cook?

Would you try to re-create a dish that you usually eat at home, and use alternatives to make it? If you could think of one dish that you want to eat again, what would it be and how would you cook it?

Would you go on a plant based diet?

There are close to 40,000 species of different plants and trees in the Amazon Rainforest. That means that you could technically survive if you go on a plant based diet. Bananas, pineapples, acai, passionfruit and even cashew nuts grow in the Amazon Rainforest. Some fruits also have juices that can quench your thirst, but the point is, how would you crack open some fruits like pineapple? What would be your tactic?

Where would you sleep?

If you love camping, then you probably won't have a problem with camping out in the rainforest. However, you wouldn't have the tent that you would have bought from a store, and you would need to make one yourself. Do you have the boy or girl scout skills to do that? Or would you be sleeping with a leaf to keep you warm at night?

Are you ready to fight off predators?

There is always competition in the world, especially in the jungles. The Amazon Rainforest has 4 layers: the emergent layer, canopy layer, understory layer and the forest floor. The likelihood is that you would be on the forest floor, since the emergent layer is too high to reach, but that doesn't stop the predators from coming to you. You will become a hunter for food, and they might see you as prey or competition.

Would you try to find a tribe?

There are 400-500 tribes living in the Amazon Rainforest, and some have never even had contact with others outside of their tribe. Would you try to befriend them and learn from them in order to be safe and find a way to get food? They would also learn many things from you too (if they accept you.)

The Amazon Rainforest

The Amazon Rainforest is the largest rainforest in the world, covering most of South America. There are some people who are daring and adventurous enough to go on a journey throughout the rainforest, but they are usually prepared with tools. But in this made up scenario, how would you survive? What can you also learn from staying in the rainforest alone for three days?