• Maggoty@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    Silverback. Yeah mambas should be scared and stay away, but one crazy one and you can’t hide anywhere. With the gorilla I just need to stay somewhere closed off, like on top of an elevator car. But also silverbacks understand conciliatory gestures. If you’re submissive they won’t attack you. Literally the opposite of a black bear encounter. Make yourself small, look away, and slowly move away.

      • phorq@lemmy.ml
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        9 months ago

        Ah, the Bugs Bunny approach… worst case scenario you get flattened and walk away with funny sound effects.

    • whereBeWaldo@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      9 months ago

      If the both animals are angry I feel like you can just loot some food and drinks then lock yourself into a freezer or something (ofc you turn it off first).

      I dont know how realistic this is but I kinda expect a gorilla to be able to smash the freezer door but no way a snake is getting in or 5 for that matter

      • loot some food and drinks then lock yourself into a freezer or something

        If its just 24 hours, just get some powerbanks for your phone and something to collect any pee/poo you have to release. Food/water just means more waste to deal with.

      • nilloc@discuss.tchncs.de
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        9 months ago

        I live in the frozen wasteland. If he’s to the REI for some warm gear. Turn off the heat and let the snakes go lethargic.

        Then return the clothes the next day.

  • Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    All the people who are not choosing to chill with a usually calm intelligent mammal because “snakes will get out of your way” apparently don’t know shit about black mambas:

    Skittish and often unpredictable, the black mamba is agile and can move quickly. In the wild, black mambas seldom tolerate humans approaching more closely than about 40 metres (130 ft)

    When confronted, it is likely to engage in a threat display

    During the threat display, any sudden movement by the intruder may provoke the snake into performing a series of rapid strikes, leading to severe envenomation

    Give me a big strong dude intelligent enough to leave you alone after you’re demonstrated that you’re not a threat any day!

    • Iceman@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      From the same Wikipedia article:

      The black mamba’s reputation for being ready to attack is exaggerated; it is usually provoked by perceived threats such as the blocking of its movements and ability to retreat.

      Despite its reputation as a formidable and highly aggressive species, the black mamba attacks humans only if it is threatened or cornered.

    • Noodle07@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      Yup, I’d feel much safer with a gorilla. But I’m stupid enough to try to befriend him with fruits lol

      • Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        As long as you’re careful about displaying submissive body language and not getting too close, the worst thing that could happen is probably that he gets to snack on fruit and ignores you 🤷

        Probably have to REALLY know what you’re doing though lol

        • Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world
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          9 months ago

          Nah, that’s lawyers you’re thinking of. Gorillas are the ones who howl at the moon and have been observed by Warren Zevon casually strolling around all over London.

      • Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        Try finding a door that can withstand a gorilla tho

        The gorilla won’t even care that you’re there as long as you don’t get too close and act too aggressively. It’s definitely not going to hunt you down and break down the door to get to you unless its family is in there too or something like that.

        Also, as I pointed out to the other one, being locked in a bathroom for 24 hours is its own kind of hell for some of us.

        Besides, one of the snakes might be hiding in that bathroom and you won’t know until it’s too late. Silverback gorillas, on the other hand, are not known for stealth.

  • JonEFive@midwest.social
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    9 months ago

    Gorilla. No doubt in my mind. It’s a hell of a lot easier to keep track of where one gorilla is compared to 5 black snakes.

    One gorilla will probably ignore me as long as I keep my distance. Keeping distance and even putting a wall or 3 between you and the gorilla is trivial in a place as large as a mall.

    On the other hand, snakes might mostly ignore me, but since I don’t know where the fuckers are, it’s a lot easier to accidentally startle or threaten one.

    My new best friend friend Coco isn’t coming through pipes, air ducts, holes in walls, etc. Big strong boi isn’t hiding in the corner of a closet waiting to bite me as I reach in to grab a snack.

    I’d go to the food court, put out a cornucopia of food, make sure the gorilla sees me leave it there for them, bow respectfully and slink away, then spend the rest of the 24 hours clear on the opposite side of the mall.

    This all assumes that the gorilla isn’t enraged for any particular reason or starving. But even if so, I think gorilla is the safer answer, just the evasion technique changes.

    • umbrella@lemmy.ml
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      9 months ago

      I don’t think a gorilla would be chill while stuck in a mall

      Are the snakes hungry? You can be on an open space, or a strtegically closed one to keep away from the snakes.

  • theodewere@kbin.social
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    9 months ago

    man i’d rather hang out with a gorilla at the mall than most people, wtf kind of question is that

  • Granite@kbin.social
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    9 months ago

    I’m taking the snakes 100%. Snakes don’t want to bite you, so stay in open spaces and you’re all good.

  • 🇰 🌀 🇱 🇦 🇳 🇦 🇰 ℹ️@yiffit.net
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    9 months ago

    A gorilla could probably catch me, but 5 black mambas aren’t that fast unless the mall is underwater (average top speed is 12mph on land). It’s a big mall. Maybe they’re all over at Sears while I’m safe at Suncoast.

  • Baku@aussie.zone
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    9 months ago

    My first reaction was mamba, and I actually thought that I was going to be in the majority. I don’t know much of black mambas, but most of the snakes I’ve encountered first hand tend to not want to be anywhere near you and will almost always try to avoid biting you. But on further research it seems they are rather territorial. Even so, I do think they’d be more likely to want to hide than stay in open spaces. But that’s a double edged sword, since they’ll probably end up in the most random nooks and crannies then bite your head off (or at least try) if you stumble upon them.

    Realistically though, regardless of which one I choose, I’m going to try and stay as far away as possible. If it’s snakes, I’ll probably climb onto a table or something, maybe up on top of some shelves in a grocery store. If it’s a gorilla, I’d probably try to hide somewhere hard to access. On top of a lift or in a walk in fridge as others have suggested seem like good bets. I don’t really trust either to not try and kill me given the right circumstances

    • TranscendentalEmpire@lemm.ee
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      9 months ago

      Idk, I can definitely find something in the mall that can help me trap/ kill a couple snakes. I can’t say the same thing about a silverback.

      Plus, the snakes are just as likely to attack each other than anything, with apes you always gotta worry about them teaming up.

      • dejected_warp_core@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        I was gonna say. The gorilla is a 800lb. problem that requires stealth, strength, and fast thinking to deal with. You’d need a smarter plan than “lure him into Banana Republic and close the security gate with him inside.” But you will need a plan.

        Also, accidentally make eye contact or show your teeth to that ape and you’re dead; like your shoes came off, dead. Can’t say the same for the snakes.

        • Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world
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          9 months ago

          lure him into Banana Republic

          “I wish to lodge a formal complaint about the ludicrously misleading naming of this establishment.”

          Signed Buford Francis Gorilla

  • AA5B@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    Sure, lots of big animals are gentle. However when something the size of a car decides to gore you or rip your spine in half, there’s nothing you can do about it

      • rwhitisissle@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        A snake can’t sprint at you at 25 miles an hour and then rip you in half like a phone book as soon as it sees you. Nor would it. A panicked gorilla placed in a strange location like a mall will potentially kill anything in sight.

      • Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works
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        9 months ago

        Just don’t go into corners, it’s 24 hours and only 5 snakes. Go to the Asian imports and get a mall ninja sword if it makes you feel more comfortable. The snakes are going to fuck off anywhere small where they feel protected… just don’t go adventuring and you won’t have any snek issues.

        Now if it’s 50 mambas that definitely changes the calculus.

    • RGB3x3@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      There’s always a gorilla in the banana stand.

      Is that how that saying goes?

    • phx@lemmy.ca
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      9 months ago

      Plot twist, neither would be mad at you. They are actually very horny in this situation.

      • Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        On the one hand, snakes have no external genitals, but on the other hand, that doesn’t mean they can’t violently enter you… Also, they’re cold blooded in more ways than one.

        As for the gorilla, they’re a monogamous species, very social, fiercely protective of their loved ones but nowhere near as terrorial as a black mamba and look like they’d be great at cuddling, so I’d say that the choice is clear…