Naked Science Forum
Life Sciences => Plant Sciences, Zoology & Evolution => Topic started by: Yasser on 15/05/2010 21:30:03
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Yasser asked the Naked Scientists:
Dear Naked Scientists,
Would a personal alarm, designed to produce a 115 decibel siren to intimidate a human attacker, have the same effect on a wild aggressive animal like a grizzly bear or a cougar?
I understand animals perceive sound in different ways, some hear sound humans cannot, but can a personal alarm save the live of a stray camper who has come face to face with one of the above wild animals?
Sincerely,
Yasser in Canada
What do you think?
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I think if this personal alarm is a safesound, so yeah, He can work against them
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What if the noise just further enrages the wild animal?
I heard that most bear attacks on humans occur when a human accidentally walks between a mother and her cub. They are both well hidden in bushes, so you may not know either of them are nearby. I don't think that 115dB would stop a mother bear from reaching her cub.
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Gordon Buchanan, wildlife photographer, who gets up close to some very wild animals suggests you don’t walk quietly, don’t take animals by surprise give themm time to get themselves and their cubs out of the way.
Her is an interesting article on scaring bears away https://jeffreytrust.wordpress.com/2010/01/03/scaring-a-bear-away/
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Lee Berger, who's been on the programme a few times talking about his hominid discoveries in South Africa took me to the Malapa cave site, where Australopithecus sediba was discovered (https://www.thenakedscientists.com/podcasts/special/australopithecus-sediba-special). There, he uses those little home alarm sirens that look like a small white box and use IR to detect movement nearby. It went off when we were at the site and we needed to disarm it. but it's not there to put off unwanted human visitors - it's to scare off the babboons who come in and make a nuisance of themselves...!