Death by salamander

[snopes]

Comment: My daughters love your show and I
was talking to them the other day about a rumor I heard many years ago
while surving at Ft. Bragg when I was a soldier. The myth goes like this.

A soldier was dared to eat a salamander whole and alive. you know just
swollow it. Which he did. A couple of days later the soldier went on sick
call due to severe pain in his stomach and side. when he was x-rayed it
was found that the salamander was still alive and eating himself free.

Any truth to this myth and can the salamander survive this type of
enviroment?

[Troodon]

I would think that the harsh environment of the stomach would be especially harmful to amphibians due to their permeable skins.

[Roadie]

Here I thought this would have something to do with one of my favorite snopesters. I was worried for a second!

[Salamander]

I categorically state that I have not now, or at any time in the past been swallowed whole by another man and then commenced to eat my way out of him (which, quite frankly, sounds like a kinky sex act).

As a once owner of an axolotl and an animal lover in general, I can certainly hope that anyone attempting to eat a live axolotl chokes and dies in a terribly painful manner. In fact I'll go on record as stating that I hope anyone involved in inflicting cruelty upon any animal for any reason (and particularly on something as stupid as a "dare") dies slowly, preferably in a fire.

[inkrose115]

Not to memtioned plenty of salamanders are poisonous. I imagine it would be quite painful. Hah, serves anyne who eats 'em right. Poor little guys.

[PallasAthena]

There was a clip on National Geographic's Best of show that showed a large frog eating a specific species of salamander. The frog died within moments, and shortly after, the very much alive salamander slipped out between the frog's lips and crept on about its business. It was an erie clip to say the least, but a very cool suvival mechanism.

I would not be suprised at all of there is a species of salamander with enough poison to kill any human dumb enough to swallow it. What I do doubt very much is the ability of a salamander's delicate skin to withstand the acidity of a human's stomach, let alone be able to eat his way out. Why not just slip back out the way he came in? Of course, I have no idea how strong the acid in a frog's stomach is. It could be stronger than a human's for all I know.

[inkrose115]

Originally Posted by PallasAthena

There was a clip on National Geographic's Best of show that showed a large frog eating a specific species of salamander. The frog died within moments, and shortly after, the very much alive salamander slipped out between the frog's lips and crept on about its business. It was an erie clip to say the least, but a very cool suvival mechanism.

I would not be suprised at all of there is a species of salamander with enough poison to kill any human dumb enough to swallow it. What I do doubt very much is the ability of a salamander's delicate skin to withstand the acidity of a human's stomach, let alone be able to eat his way out. Why not just slip back out the way he came in? Of course, I have no idea how strong the acid in a frog's stomach is. It could be stronger than a human's for all I know.

That and frogs swallow food whole. Chewing your food properly can be a pretty important part of digestion. Just in case. Of course, the acid in your stomach is so strong that the lining is replaced about every 3 days or so to prevent it from digesting itself. One species of salamander is so poisonous it has 200 times the amount of venom to kill a human, and only a certain breed of snake can eat it without dying, and even then it has to rest and digest it carefully. Probably the result of an evolutionary arms race between the species.

I have trouble believing that anything could survive in your stomach for 2 days because A) it is pretty acidic (as Inkrose115 mentioned) and B) there is no Oxygen (a slamander could not breathe. It would suffocate).

That being said, Soldiers do eat some strange things when pressured by each other.

[PallasAthena]

Originally Posted by Deepfrydegg

I have trouble believing that anything could survive in your stomach for 2 days because A) it is pretty acidic (as Inkrose115 mentioned) and B) there is no Oxygen (a slamander could not breathe. It would suffocate).

That being said, Soldiers do eat some strange things when pressured by each other.

Darn it, that's exactly what I said before the interweb ate my post.

[TrishDaDish]

I think we're missing the Big Picture here:

Comment: My daughters love your show

"Show"? Snopes has a show now?

[Ieuan ab Arthur]

Hi All:

Originally Posted by TrishDaDish

"Show"? Snopes has a show now?

You mean you haven't been watching it? What kind of snopster are you? I've got a good mind to report you!

Just look at the reviews the show has garnered. TV Guidelines calls The Snopes Variety Hour a "rollicking hour of laughs, music and special guests." The Podunk Herald says, "I couldn't stop laughing at the antics." Various Magazine raves "Snope's monologue is something no civilized being can miss. It had me laughing so hard, I NFBSKed myself."

That being said, I wasn't very impressed with the episode with Waldo, the Amazing Wombat. The sketch simply didn't work for me. Then again, I've never been a great fan of yodeling Hairy Nosed Wombats. But YMMV.

Ta ra 'wan,

Ieuan "Where's Snopes?" ab Arthur

[inkrose115]

Originally Posted by TrishDaDish

I think we're missing the Big Picture here:



"Show"? Snopes has a show now?

If I ever become independently wealthy I'd donate money to help out.

[Salamander]

This thread title gets me every time I see it.

It coulda been "Death by axolotl" or "Death by amphibian" or something... but noooo.

Originally Posted by Salamander

This thread title gets me every time I see it.

It coulda been "Death by axolotl" or "Death by amphibian" or something... but noooo.

Just wait - you're bound to end up in proximity alerts soon.

I went to look for some potential titles and actually found :

Spreading Smallpox

Death by Salamander

Victoria J

[Canuckistan]

Originally Posted by Salamander

This thread title gets me every time I see it.

It coulda been "Death by axolotl" or "Death by amphibian" or something... but noooo.

Could be worse.

The "by" could be "of."

Always look on the bright side.

[TrishDaDish]

Originally Posted by Ieuan ab Arthur

Hi All:

You mean you haven't been watching it? What kind of snopster are you? I've got a good mind to report you!

Just look at the reviews the show has garnered. TV Guidelines calls The Snopes Variety Hour a "rollicking hour of laughs, music and special guests." The Podunk Herald says, "I couldn't stop laughing at the antics." Various Magazine raves "Snope's monologue is something no civilized being can miss. It had me laughing so hard, I NFBSKed myself."

That being said, I wasn't very impressed with the episode with Waldo, the Amazing Wombat. The sketch simply didn't work for me. Then again, I've never been a great fan of yodeling Hairy Nosed Wombats. But YMMV.

Ta ra 'wan,

Ieuan "Where's Snopes?" ab Arthur

If it's any consolation, I just saw The God Who Wasn't there last night. So I finally got to see and hear the elusive Barbara! (I've seen snopes hisself on the TV Land show a little while back, so it was nice to see the couple together!)

Trish "All hail Burlap Boy!" DaDish

[boogers]

Getting back to toxic amphibians, I found a report of a 29 year old camper who died after eating an Oregon newt. Charles Kingsley Levy, PHD, describes it in A Field Guide to Dangerous Animals of North America: "His lips were tingling within ten minutes, and he complained of numbness and weakness; eventually he collapsed." A few hours later efforts to revive the man at a hospital failed. Kingsley says that the Oregon newt's venom is 1250 times more potent than cyanide and a 10 gram newt contains enough venom to kill a full grown man.

Presumably such a creature would not need to survive in the stomach for any length of time in order to do damage.

[NeeCD]

Originally Posted by boogers

Getting back to toxic amphibians, I found a report of a 29 year old camper who died after eating an Oregon newt. Charles Kingsley Levy, PHD, describes it in A Field Guide to Dangerous Animals of North America: "His lips were tingling within ten minutes, and he complained of numbness and weakness; eventually he collapsed." A few hours later efforts to revive the man at a hospital failed. Kingsley says that the Oregon newt's venom is 1250 times more potent than cyanide and a 10 gram newt contains enough venom to kill a full grown man.

Presumably such a creature would not need to survive in the stomach for any length of time in order to do damage.

I'm confused by the use of the word venom in that story. If someone ate the newt and died, it would be because the newt was poisonous (or toxic, like boogers said). By using the word venom, I would take that to mean that the newt is dangerous when it bites, which doesn't seem to be what Kingsley was trying to say. Poisonous != venomous, and a PhD should know that. (Sorry, it's a tiny munchkin of mine, and although I think I know what Kingsley was trying to say, his (possible) misuse of the word venom makes it unclear.)

ETA: I found this tidbit while looking for exactly what an "Oregon newt" might be (it's actually a rough-skinned newt, Taricha granulosa) - "Humans have occasionally been known to consume newts (under the influence of alcohol and peer pressure) and are highly susceptible to the effects of tetrodotoxin, sometimes with lethal results (Brodie et al., 1974b; Bradley and Klika, 1981)." I just thought the parenthetical statement was rather funny and related well to the OP. (Link)