This article is an excuse for me to talk about how terrifying Argentina is.
See, I have a well-deserved healthy respect for orcas. I am fully aware that I am out here walking around like a chicken tender and that an orca could, and would, likely just casually chomp me down.
More than that, we know orcas can, and do, communicate in highly sophisticated ways: often about food sources and hunting techniques.
Imagine being eaten by an orca and then it goes and gives you a 2 star review on Orca-Yelp like "Eh, it was a little screamy on the way down..."
I can't. If I'm going to get eaten, I'd rather it not be by something capable of criticizing me afterwards. It's a nightmare scenario.
As such, I have decided the entire country of Argentina is a hellscape for me.
Reddit user eeca20 asked:
"What is the wildest animal fact you know?"
Which leads us to the fun-fact I learned while sick-watching a nature documentary a few years ago.
The orcas in Argentina have taught themselves how to hunt on land.
But first let's talk about some other stuff...
Deadly Whale Songs
Sperm Whale Diving GIF by OceanaGiphy"The sperm whale is the loudest animal on Earth and could potentially kill you with just the noises it makes."
"They've been recorded over 200db, which is comparable to a space rocket launch in close proximity. There's conflicting evidence but some scientists think they can use noise to stun or even kill giant squid."
"They can also expel about 90% of the air from their lungs before they dive and store extra oxygen in their blood, so they don't get decompression sickness from their deep dives. This also helps to make them less buoyant."
"They can dive up to 10,000 feet deep for over an hour."
"It's also the largest toothed predator to have ever lived and have the largest brains on the planet."
- SPYK3O
Lumos
Looking Coral Reef GIF by Monterey Bay AquariumGiphy"Humans have 3 colour receptors and can see roughly 20 million colours. Mantis shrimps have 27 colour receptors."
"Let that sink in."
"A mantis shrimp's eye has 3 bands - one for seeing visible light, one for infrared and one for ultraviolet. The reason they have so many colour receptors is so they can actually process all of the information given to them by each band, and not just have a sensory overload."
"Also, Mantis shrimps can punch faster than the speed of sound, so they can effectively cause sparks underwater."
- DapCuber
"They punch so fast (the same acceleration as a .22 bullet) that a bubble of vacuum is created."
"The cavitation then violently collapses causing temperatures equal to the surface of the sun. So they're actually punching the water so hard and fast that they're causing light to be created from that punch... sonoluminescence."
- LookMaNoPride
The Ravens
David Attenborough Life GIFGiphy"I know wolves and ravens have a mutual relationship."
"Ravens will search for prey from above and make a specific call to alert the pack. The wolves make the kill and leave a bit behind so the ravens can get their fill."
- Im_not_da_guy
"I watched a raven beat the crap out of a falcon last summer."
"It was shocking how much more agile and capable it was in the air. The raven was easily flying circles around the falcon."
- user9347556765455678
Blue
Blue Eyes Hbo GIF by Game of ThronesGiphy"Most blue in nature is not through pigments."
"It's something called 'structural color' where complex microscopic structures literally trap other wavelengths of visible light. Most blue pigment is actually a diluted purple."
"I believe only one butterfly and a type of fish have actual blue pigment. Everything else is structural."
"Even humans with blue eyes don't have blue pigment, they have structural color."
- InfamousFault7
The Strongest Bear
Water Bear Snow GIF by PBS Digital StudiosGiphy"Tardigrades - also called water bears - can be boiled, frozen, subjected to immense pressure, the vacuum of space, or dried out for a decade… and live!"
- FlobbleChops
"They also used them to test the survival of a living organism surviving interplanetary travel of space debris. Water bears survived impact speeds up to 825 meters per second (1845 mph)."
- brandonfla
Snake Sillies
Jungle Book Snake GIFGiphy"Many survivors of black mamba bites have reported feeling euphoric as the (neurotoxic) venom began to take effect."
"Such reports lead scientists to isolate the responsible compounds from the venom, which are currently being investigated for use as non-opioid painkillers."
"The inland taipan is the world's most potently-venomous snake, which means it takes a lesser amount of inland taipan venom to kill a person than any other snake venom."
"Despite this potency, however, there has never been a (reported, much less confirmed) human death by inland taipan bite. This is largely because these snakes live towards the center of the Australian continent, where there is basically zero human habitation."
- PaniqueAttaque
"Wait, euphoric as in happy, giddy, and silly? It bites you, then gives you and gives you a case of the sillies so you die with a joygasm?"
"That is both terrifying and rather polite."
- [Reddit]
Argentina's Orcas
discovery channel swimming GIF by Shark WeekGiphy"Orca’s off the coast of Argentina have a hunting tradition where they intentionally beach themselves in order too snag sealions from the shore."
"Yeah, orcas hunt on land now, too."
- darell255
"Jesus imagine finding a stranded orca, thinking it’s dead, coming close to it and it bites your f*cking head off that’s terrifying."
- a-fat-penguin
A Fish Out Of Water
David Bowie Yes GIFGiphy"Betta Fish are anabantoids, meaning they breathe some air like humans with a special organ called a labyrinth organ."
"I have one as a pet and I can’t fill the tank to the top so he can breathe at the top. Every few minutes or so he comes up for a quick gulp of air, then goes back to whatever he is doing."
"Because of this, if a betta jumps out of water, (they are also great jumpers, can sometimes jump more than 3 inches, evolved like that because in natural environment so jump from water to water) they can survive, in the right conditions!"
"A betta can survive 6 hours out of water if they are in a humid environment to maintain moisture, and can breathe in oxygen with their labyrinth organ."
- Fish_make_me_happy
The Lion King
nat geo hyena GIF by National Geographic ChannelGiphy"Hyenas have a startlingly complex Matriarchal social structure and they are one of the most well adapted animals to their environment."
"As most will know, they eat bone with their immensely strong teeth and jaws, but this serves a very important function. Their droppings are white, and very rich in Potassium and Calcium, so helps to nourish the plains so that other wildlife can thrive, making them critical to their Biosphere."
"Also their forelegs are longer than their back legs, giving them the advantage of being able to see further across the plains compared to a similar sized animal with more proportional legs."
"The Lion King has a lot to answer for the reputation of Hyenas as duplicitous and base creatures!"
- No-Cryptographer-192
Male Mosquito
Mosquito GIF by DiscoveryGiphy"Most people have never seen a male mosquito and wouldn't recognize one if they did."
"Why? They don't drink blood (flower nectar only for those "bad boys") so you won't have them land on you, they are typically quite a bit smaller than the female, and they have weird branched antennae that kind of look like tiny deer antlers."
"How do I know? Well, I took a medical entomology class with a lab and then spent almost a year doing lab research on mosquitoes where the first step in my experiments was to raise them and the day the emerged from larvae separate the boys from the girls... since I was only conducting my experiments on females."
- RetiredEpi
So before we wrap this up, I want to go back to this whole orcas-hunting-on-land thing. I don't think Reddit really went into how absolutely terrifying this is.
The mental image of one lone orca laying around on land chomping on sea lions is bad enough, but what Reddit didn't talk about is how the orca gets back into the water.
Orcas can't walk on their front flippers like sea lions can. They can't really belly-scoot like seals, either.
They have to get back into the water through the power of team work. That is not heart-warming, stop "aww-ing" and start "AAAAAHHHH!-ing" in existential horror.
The rest of the pod lines up along the beach and, in unison, use their tails to create a wave big enough to wash the beached orca back into the water.
They have to coordinate that. They have to talk that out.
They have to decide whose turn it is to take the risk of going on land, then appoint someone to be spotter for that guy and look/listen for signs of distress or the signal that land-orca is ready to come back into the water.
They have to work out and agree on what those signs and signals will be.
Argentinian orcas have already done all of that - and done it so well that they are now teaching it to their orca children, grandorcas, etc. They get together for educational sessions and will often capture, release, and re-capture the same poor traumatized sea lion over and over for training purposes.
This level of management, communication, and coordination this proves they're using is horrifying - particularly when you consider that humans are probably far easier to catch than sea lions.
They basically have HR, trade school, and on-the-job training, fam! How does anyone in Argentina even dare to GLANCE at the ocean knowing what their orcas are capable of?
I'm out, Argentina. Y'all can keep your terminator orcas.
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Experiencing death is a fascinating and frightening idea.
Who doesn't want to know what is waiting for us on the other side?
But so many of us want to know and then come back and live a little longer.
It would be so great to be sure there is something else.
But the whole dying part is not that great, so we'll have to rely on other people's accounts.
Redditor AlaskaStiletto wanted to hear from everyone who has returned to life, so they asked:
"Redditors who have 'died' and come back to life, what did you see?"
Sensations
Happy Good Vibes GIF by Major League SoccerGiphy"My dad's heart stopped when he had a heart attack and he had to be brought back to life. He kept the paper copy of the heart monitor which shows he flatlined. He said he felt an overwhelming sensation of peace, like nothing he had felt before."
PeachesnPain
Recovery
"I had surgical complications in 2010 that caused a great deal of blood loss. As a result, I had extremely low blood pressure and could barely stay awake. I remember feeling like I was surrounded by loved ones who had passed. They were in a circle around me and I knew they were there to guide me onwards. I told them I was not ready to go because my kids needed me and I came back."
"My nurse later said she was afraid she’d find me dead every time she came into the room."
"It took months, and blood transfusions, but I recovered."
good_golly99
Take Me Back
"Overwhelming peace and happiness. A bright airy and floating feeling. I live a very stressful life. Imagine finding out the person you have had a crush on reveals they have the same feelings for you and then you win the lotto later that day - that was the feeling I had."
"I never feared death afterward and am relieved when I hear of people dying after suffering from an illness."
rayrayrayray
Free
The Light Minnie GIF by (G)I-DLEGiphy"I had a heart surgery with near-death experience, for me at least (well the possibility that those effects are caused by morphine is also there) I just saw black and nothing else but it was warm and I had such inner peace, its weird as I sometimes still think about it and wish this feeling of being so light and free again."
TooReDTooHigh
This is why I hate surgery.
You just never know.
Shocked
Giphy"More of a near-death experience. I was electrocuted. I felt like I was in a deep hole looking straight up in the sky. My life flashed before me. Felt sad for my family, but I had a deep sense of peace."
Admirable_Buyer6528
The SOB
"Nursing in the ICU, we’ve had people try to die on us many times during the years, some successfully. One guy stood out to me. His heart stopped. We called a code, are working on him, and suddenly he comes to. We hadn’t vented him yet, so he was able to talk, and he started screaming, 'Don’t let them take me, don’t let them take me, they are coming,' he was scared and yelling."
"Then he yelled a little more, as we tried to calm him down, he screamed, 'No, No,' and gestured towards the end of the bed, and died again. We didn’t get him back. It was seriously creepy. We called his son to tell him the news, and the son said basically, 'Good, he was an SOB.'”
1-cupcake-at-a-time
Colors
"My sister died and said it was extremely peaceful. She said it was very loud like a train station and lots of talking and she was stuck in this area that was like a curtain with lots of beautiful colors (colors that you don’t see in real life according to her) a man told her 'He was sorry, but she had to go back as it wasn’t her time.'"
Hannah_LL7
"I had a really similar experience except I was in an endless garden with flowers that were colors I had never seen before. It was quiet and peaceful and a woman in a dress looked at me, shook her head, and just said 'Not yet.' As I was coming back, it was extremely loud, like everyone in the world was trying to talk all at once. It was all very disorienting but it changed my perspective on life!"
huntokarrr
The Fog
"I was in a gray fog with a girl who looked a lot like a young version of my grandmother (who was still alive) but dressed like a pioneer in the 1800s she didn't say anything but kept pulling me towards an opening in the wall. I kept refusing to go because I was so tired."
"I finally got tired of her nagging and went and that's when I came to. I had bled out during a c-section and my heart could not beat without blood. They had to deliver the baby and sew up the bleeders. refill me with blood before they could restart my heart so, like, at least 12 minutes gone."
Fluffy-Hotel-5184
Through the Walls
"My spouse was dead for a couple of minutes one miserable night. She maintains that she saw nothing, but only heard people talking about her like through a wall. The only thing she remembers for absolute certain was begging an ER nurse that she didn't want to die."
"She's quite alive and well today."
Hot-Refrigerator6583
Well let's all be happy to be alive.
It seems to be all we have.
Trying to lose weight is a struggle understood by many people regardless of size.
The goal of reaching a healthy weight may seem unattainable, but with diet and exercise, it can pay off through persistence and discipline.
Seeing the pounds gradually drop off can also be a great motivator and incentivize people to stay the course.
Those who've achieved their respective weight goals shared their experiences when Redditor apprenti8455 asked:
"People who lost a lot of weight, what surprises you the most now?"
Redditors didn't see these coming.
Shiver Me Timbers
"I’m always cold now!"
– Telrom_1
"I had a coworker lose over 130 pounds five or six years ago. I’ve never seen him without a jacket on since."
– r7ndom
"140 lbs lost here starting just before COVID, I feel like that little old lady that's always cold, damn this top comment was on point lmao."
– mr_remy
Drawing Concern
"I lost 100 pounds over a year and a half but since I’m old(70’s) it seems few people comment on it because (I think) they think I’m wasting away from some terminal illness."
– dee-fondy
"Congrats on the weight loss! It’s honestly a real accomplishment 🙂"
"Working in oncology, I can never comment on someone’s weight loss unless I specifically know it was on purpose, regardless of their age. I think it kind of ruffles feathers at times, but like I don’t want to congratulate someone for having cancer or something. It’s a weird place to be in."
– LizardofDeath
Unleashing Insults
"I remember when I lost the first big chunk of weight (around 50 lbs) it was like it gave some people license to talk sh*t about the 'old' me. Old coworkers, friends, made a lot of not just negative, but harsh comments about what I used to look like. One person I met after the big loss saw a picture of me prior and said, 'Wow, we wouldn’t even be friends!'”
"It wasn’t extremely common, but I was a little alarmed by some of the attention. My weight has been up and down since then, but every time I gain a little it gets me a little down thinking about those things people said."
– alanamablamaspama
Not Everything Goes After Losing Weight
"The loose skin is a bit unexpected."
– KeltarCentauri
"I haven’t experienced it myself, but surgery to remove skin takes a long time to recover. Longer than bariatric surgery and usually isn’t covered by insurance unless you have both."
– KatMagic1977
"It definitely does take a long time to recover. My Dad dropped a little over 200 pounds a few years back and decided to go through with skin removal surgery to deal with the excess. His procedure was extensive, as in he had skin taken from just about every part of his body excluding his head, and he went through hell for weeks in recovery, and he was bedridden for a lot of it."
– Jaew96
These Redditors shared their pleasantly surprising experiences.
Shopping
"I can buy clothes in any store I want."
– WaySavvyD
"When I lost weight I was dying to go find cute, smaller clothes and I really struggled. As someone who had always been restricted to one or two stores that catered to plus-sized clothing, a full mall of shops with items in my size was daunting. Too many options and not enough knowledge of brands that were good vs cheap. I usually went home pretty frustrated."
– ganache98012
No More Symptoms
"Lost about 80 pounds in the past year and a half, biggest thing that I’ve noticed that I haven’t seen mentioned on here yet is my acid reflux and heartburn are basically gone. I used to be popping tums every couple hours and now they just sit in the medicine cabinet collecting dust."
– colleennicole93
Expanding Capabilities
"I'm all for not judging people by their appearance and I recognise that there are unhealthy, unachievable beauty standards, but one thing that is undeniable is that I can just do stuff now. Just stamina and flexibility alone are worth it, appearance is tertiary at best."
– Ramblonius
People Change Their Tune
"How much nicer people are to you."
"My feet weren't 'wide' they were 'fat.'"
– LiZZygsu
"Have to agree. Lost 220 lbs, people make eye contact and hold open doors and stuff"
"And on the foot thing, I also lost a full shoe size numerically and also wear regular width now 😅"
– awholedamngarden
It's gonna take some getting used to.
Bones Everywhere
"Having bones. Collarbones, wrist bones, knee bones, hip bones, ribs. I have so many bones sticking out everywhere and it’s weird as hell."
– Princess-Pancake-97
"I noticed the shadow of my ribs the other day and it threw me, there’s a whole skeleton in here."
– bekastrange
Knee Pillow
"Right?! And they’re so … pointy! Now I get why people sleep with pillows between their legs - the knee bones laying on top of each other (side sleeper here) is weird and jarring."
– snic2030
"I lost only 40 pounds within the last year or so. I’m struggling to relate to most of these comments as I feel like I just 'slimmed down' rather than dropped a ton. But wow, the pillow between the knees at night. YES! I can relate to this. I think a lot of my weight was in my thighs. I never needed to do this up until recently."
– Strongbad23
More Mobility
"I’ve lost 100 lbs since 2020. It’s a collection of little things that surprise me. For at least 10 years I couldn’t put on socks, or tie my shoes. I couldn’t bend over and pick something up. I couldn’t climb a ladder to fix something. Simple things like that I can do now that fascinate me."
"Edit: Some additional little things are sitting in a chair with arms, sitting in a booth in a restaurant, being able to shop in a normal store AND not needing to buy the biggest size there, being able to easily wipe my butt, and looking down and being able to see my penis."
– dma1965
People making significant changes, whether for mental or physical health, can surely find a newfound perspective on life.
But they can also discover different issues they never saw coming.
That being said, overcoming any challenge in life is laudable, especially if it leads to gaining confidence and ditching insecurities.
