Welcome to brain Stuff production of iHeart Radio. Hey brain Stuff, Lauren vocal bomb here. Let's say something has gone horribly wrong and you're in a physical fight with another human person. If that person punched you in the face, would it make you back off? Some might say that getting punched in the nose hurts like unreasonably so, and that they would disengage. Others might argue that it would merely incite their ire. After the initial shock, adrenaline would kick in
and then make even quicker work of their opponent. When it comes to animal attacks, the answer to whether a punch to the nose would stop an attack pretty much lies with what kind of animal you're considering punching. And let's just make it clear right now that you should do all you can to avoid provoking an animal attack, and that if you're not being attacked, punching any kind
of animals means for admittance into the special hell. But that aside, let's talk about a few different animals that have a reputation for needing a good stick in the nose and whether that would actually help save your skin. The shark is the animal perhaps most commonly singled out for a defensive sucker punch. The rumor is that a good, hard punch to the snout is going to send a shark reeling. There are a couple of problems with this, though.
One is that it's super hard to punch anything underwater, making a good dump on the nose pretty unrealistic. Another issue, while shark noses are sensitive, their gills and eyes are much more vulnerable. Punching one in the nose probably wouldn't do enough damage to stun it, and you've got the added problem of needing to get a little too close for comfort to its enormous gaping jaws. So perhaps a no on punching sharks. Unless it's actively and aggressively up
in your face. Your best bet would generally be to swim away as quickly and quietly as possible, and keep in mind that we're not sharks preferred snacks. They usually approach humans out of curiosity rather than predation. Another suggested attacker for which a punch in the nose might work bears. In many cases, it's best to play dead around a bear. If they're just curious, or if a mother is defending her cubs. Playing dead means they'll likely lose interest in
you and amble on. But it's also certainly appropriate to try to fight off an aggressive bear. And while it's not a sure thing, punching or hitting a bear is certainly going to help you fight it off, So go ahead and clock it in the nose if it's absolutely necessary. Of course, the animal that's really going to be useful to punch is one that has a wildly sensitive snout. So we present to you the animal that it would be most useful to wallop in the nose if it
were attacking you, the star nosed mole. With one thousand sensory neurons and its snout it's extremely sensitive to touch. However, you'll almost certainly never need to defend yourself from one. Although they look like creatures out of a Giermuo del Toro film, the star nosed mole is the size of a mouse and way more interested in eating worms than in bothering you. Today's episode written by Kate Kirshner and produced by Tyler. Playing brain Stuff is a production of
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