Ruby Falls Cave, Chattanooga, Tennessee. [OC] [2442x3256]InnovativeFarmer t1_j9resjv wrote
Reply to comment by dobeast442200 in Ruby Falls Cave, Chattanooga, Tennessee. [OC] [2442x3256] by kgd6578
Caves are crazy. Humans have discovered caves so large that we dont even know how much of the cave system is unexplored. Caves are also scary. Like easy peasy death.
CyberNinja23 t1_j9sn8dy wrote
And bats with undiscovered super diseases
InnovativeFarmer t1_j9suw8h wrote
Bats are dangerous. Rabies is bad. You may not even know you got bite by a bat. Their bites don't normally hurt. Unless its one of those bigger bats.
There is probably just the normal diseases like Legionnaires disease and parasite like Giardia. But also just getting lost or stuck. I would probably get lost and die. Contracting a super disease would be cool if I made it out of the cave because af least I would be infamous for being the idiot that cause the new pandemic. History books eitjer way. Spelunking is dangerous for experts. I realized that their are quite a few activities that have a mortality rate for experts that makes it unacceptable for beginners.
CleverDuck t1_j9tiq8b wrote
Most mammals can carry rabies, including those cute little stray kittens someone has rescued from the dumpster and is on the front page of reddit.
Bats get blamed, but they're also the second most numerous branch of mammals... so that's a pretty obviously numbers game. 🤷 Emergent diseases are typically out of tropical areas, too... and that's just "welcome to the tropics."
In North America, you're faaaar more likely to get permanently fucked up from a tick bite.
In the current era, Cavers are rarely interacting with bats when they're caving... because it's shitty to disturb wildlife. We know where they roost, and when they roost in given areas-- it's not rocket science. Not all caves have large colonies of bats.
Caving has far fewer injuries than most other "adventure sports," and faaaar fewer fatalities. You know what kills plenty of people? Skiing and scuba diving and whitewater.
Yes, caves can be extremely dangerous to people with zero basic experience (especially the drunk/high ones who only have handheld flashlights). But in my experience, it takes all of a year or so for the average person to become baseline competent at the activity in a recreational capacity.
Slip / trips are the single biggest cause of injuries in caves. We know because we thoroughly document these things in annual accident reports.
(:
Hope that helps clear up things. It's nice to not spread misinformation.
mdchaney t1_j9u1jpe wrote
When I used to cave, it was amazing how far back in a cave bats would go. We'd hear those little wings flapping and they'd fly right by your head and do a little doppler effect thing as they went the other way.
InnovativeFarmer t1_j9wg7wg wrote
We were talking about caves. Rabies came up. We werent talking facts at that point. Just talking some shit. But feral dogs and bats are the big ones to watch out for when it comes to rabies. Thats a fact for the whole world. Feral dogs are number 1 and bats are number 2 last time I checked. I know because I came in contact with a bat in an apartment in Worcester. It was the second time it happened at that address but I wasnt there the first time. One of my housemates was and she said animals control told them to check for small bites and if they had anything that looked like a bite to go to the hospital ASAP.
I also knew someone who took in a racoon thinking it would make a good pet and everyone at that house had to get rabies shots. Not fun and not cheap.
Just to be clear, we were just talking shit having fun on reddit (the most serious site on the internet) not spreading misinformation.
CleverDuck t1_j9thdmv wrote
People very very rarely die in caves (at least in western countries, where caving is done recreationally).
And yes-- plenty of caves are unexplored because we don't know what we haven't discovered. 🙃 It's not like a mountain that can be seen in it's entirety from a distance.
InnovativeFarmer t1_j9whpl3 wrote
We talking shit. The fact that people have died in caves and caves arent really were humans live means too many people have died in caves. If we still lived in caves than it wouldnt be a big deal for us to die in caves but we dont live in caves anymore.
There is someone in a skyscrapers somewhere in the world all the time. You would think with all the people who goes to skyscrapers there would be many famous instances of skyscraper deaths but its not a thing. There are famous cave deaths.
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