# Cause of death: Feet licked by bear? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 16, 2010, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cause-of-death-feet-licked-by-bear/550384 "2010-08-16T03:20:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![paperbackwriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@paperbackwriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/paperbackwriter)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2010, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cause-of-death-feet-licked-by-bear/550384/21 "2010-08-16T21:28:05Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > In most places in bear territory, most of the time, you probably wouldn’t be comfortable sleeping with your feet exposed, anyway. It can get cold at night. Well, considering that [Central Florida](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1303247/Bear-saved-10-days-jar-stuck-head.html) is bear territory, maybe not. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2010, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cause-of-death-feet-licked-by-bear/550384/22 "2010-08-16T23:05:00Z")
> [@paperbackwriter](#): > > > [@Chronos](#): > > > > In most places in bear territory, most of the time, you probably wouldn’t be comfortable sleeping with your feet exposed, anyway. It can get cold at night. > > Well, considering that [Central Florida](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1303247/Bear-saved-10-days-jar-stuck-head.html) is bear territory, maybe not. But central Florida’s mosquito country, right? I’ll go with **Chronos** ’ comfort argument, but for bugs. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Scrivener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cause-of-death-feet-licked-by-bear/550384/23 "2010-08-17T02:07:55Z")
> [@TruCelt](#): > > [snip]Anyway, the story was that bears were crazy for salt, and would lick the salt off your feet while you slept. Then you’d wake up kicking, scare the bear, and it would attack you. All barely plausible, if highly improbable.[snip] I saw what you did there! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2010, 10:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cause-of-death-feet-licked-by-bear/550384/24 "2010-08-18T10:14:07Z")
Is it true that the Chinese would punish minor crimes by locking you in foot stocks, then coating the soles of your feet with honey? The village dogs would then be allowed to lick the honey off your feet-the tickling would rive you mad. ---
**Author:** ![saje](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saje/32/3631_2.png) [@saje](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saje)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2010, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cause-of-death-feet-licked-by-bear/550384/25 "2010-08-18T11:43:16Z")
Domestic cows do indeed have very rough tongues. They are also ridiculously long and damned near prehensile. But though it would probably make your feet very sore to be repeated licked by a bovine, I don,t buy the “to the bone” bit. And bears don’t want tom lick your feet, they want that box of doughnuts you stashed for breakfast in bed. They might take a hunk out of you too, just for curiosity’s sake. ---
**Author:** ![Khaki\_Campbell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9de053/32.png) [@Khaki\_Campbell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khaki_Campbell)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2010, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cause-of-death-feet-licked-by-bear/550384/26 "2010-08-18T13:10:50Z")
Getting one’s feet licked by a bear is not deadly by itself. What _is_ deadly is then shoving one’s cock into the bear’s mouth, saying “now Smokey, I want more”. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2010, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cause-of-death-feet-licked-by-bear/550384/27 "2010-08-18T13:31:19Z")
:eek: ok, that was pretty funny. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2010, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cause-of-death-feet-licked-by-bear/550384/28 "2010-08-18T13:46:53Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > I vaguely recall reading an account of an African Buffalo that treed a woman who was on safari. The tree was short, and the animal was able to lick her feet with its very rough tongue. Her companions didn’t find her until the next morning, by which time the animal had licked her feet down to the bone. _“Halp!!! Pede file!!!”_ ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2010, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cause-of-death-feet-licked-by-bear/550384/29 "2010-08-18T14:05:17Z")
My friends uncle - not Persian - told him that some of the bears in California will sneak into your tent and toss your salad to death. ---
**Author:** ![chela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chela/32/21582_2.png) [@chela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chela)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2010, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cause-of-death-feet-licked-by-bear/550384/30 "2010-08-18T14:18:48Z")
I think the point is that humans in the wild have a distinctive odor to predators, with the feet offering a most peculiar fragrance that is enticing to bears. Thus the panicked reaction when you awaken to a bear licking your feet, and then you die (hopefully not). ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2010, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cause-of-death-feet-licked-by-bear/550384/31 "2010-08-18T15:12:05Z")
The bears are just trying to find out how many licks it takes to get to the chewy center. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Piranha\_Brothers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/aca169/32.png) [@The\_Piranha\_Brothers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Piranha_Brothers)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2010, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cause-of-death-feet-licked-by-bear/550384/32 "2010-08-18T15:17:45Z")
It doesn’t rank high as a cause of death: [xkcd: Dangers](http://xkcd.com/369/) Possibly the tongues / saliva of bears contains bacteria deadly to human feet?? ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2010, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cause-of-death-feet-licked-by-bear/550384/33 "2010-08-18T15:47:53Z")
> [@Koxinga](#): > > No doubt based on what he was told growing up, my dad was (and AFAIK still is) convinced that if you pluck out one of your nose hairs you’re putting yourself at risk for a brain aneurysm somehow. Not an aneurysm, an intracranial thrombophlebitis: [Can you die from picking your nose?](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/235/can-you-die-from-picking-your-nose) ---
**Author:** ![dobieman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7c8e57/32.png) [@dobieman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dobieman)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2010, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cause-of-death-feet-licked-by-bear/550384/34 "2010-08-18T16:22:27Z")
Up here in Alaska where we have black bears, grizzly/brown bears, polar bears, and Kermode’s bear (basically, a whitish black bear) and where I have hiked and camped for several decades I’ve never heard of that problem. As someone pointed out…and especially up here in the summer…you wouldn’t have your feet exposed or the mosquitoes would drain you empty by morning. By the time the bugs are gone, it’s too cool to sleep with your feet outside your sleeping bag. I think this falls under the “put salt on a bird’s tail to catch it” genre, in that if a bear is that close to your exposed feet the least you have to worry about is it licking them. (Unless there’s a species of bear that specializes in deriving energy from that practice. You know…maybe a sole-r polar bear.)(Groan) ---
**Author:** ![minlokwat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minlokwat/32/2844_2.png) [@minlokwat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minlokwat)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2010, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cause-of-death-feet-licked-by-bear/550384/35 "2010-08-18T22:15:08Z")
I distinctly remember seeing on TV, \*\*Sherman Hemsley \*\*-either on an episode of the Jeffersons or Amen- and a bear licking his feet. There didn’t appear to be any stunt double or video tomfoolery and I don’t know how the bear felt about it—I guess like any good actor, certain sacrifices for one’s craft are to be expected. Not sure what this proves but there you have it. ---
**Author:** ![alindallas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f17d59/32.png) [@alindallas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alindallas)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2010, 9:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cause-of-death-feet-licked-by-bear/550384/36 "2010-08-19T09:55:14Z")
> [@Wile\_E](#): > > The bears are just trying to find out how many licks it takes to get to the chewy center. Three. Of course bares want to lick bear feet. No one could bare that kind of tickle torture. I can bearly think of it without shuddering. Surviving that kind of shock would be a feat in itself. Bears and bare feet. I’m going to keep checking this one. BTW: My wife and I constantly discuss the danger of “fan death”. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Panurge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/fbc32d/32.png) [@Panurge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Panurge)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2010, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cause-of-death-feet-licked-by-bear/550384/37 "2010-08-19T11:58:02Z")
> [@Inigo\_Montoya](#): > > > [@Colibri](#): > > > > I vaguely recall reading an account of an African Buffalo that treed a woman who was on safari. The tree was short, and the animal was able to lick her feet with its very rough tongue. Her companions didn’t find her until the next morning, by which time the animal had licked her feet down to the bone. I forget whether she was supposed to have survived. > > Do goats or cows or any other herbivore have rough tongues? It’s always been my impression that raspy tongues are used for getting meat off bones and so would be a carnivorous thing. 'course, dog tongues are slippery so maybe I need to stick to what I know. > > […] I remember reading somewhere that an old Chinese form of torture consisted of soaking the victim’s legs in salt water for a long time and let a few goats lick the legs afterwards. Not sure if they were supposed to lick it “to the bone”, though, and as I can’t remember the source, take the anecdote with a grain of salt. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2010, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cause-of-death-feet-licked-by-bear/550384/38 "2010-08-19T12:19:42Z")
> [@constanze](#): > > While at first glance, death by being licked by a bear sounds very embarrasing, I would still prefer it to autoerotic asphyxation. 🙂 I didn’t know we had to pick. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![The\_Piranha\_Brothers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/aca169/32.png) [@The\_Piranha\_Brothers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Piranha_Brothers)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2010, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cause-of-death-feet-licked-by-bear/550384/39 "2010-08-19T13:12:58Z")
You bet there are people who like that kind of thing… dip your feet in honey and wait for the bears to come… ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2010, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cause-of-death-feet-licked-by-bear/550384/40 "2010-08-19T22:39:52Z")
> [@chela](#): > > I think the point is that humans in the wild have a distinctive odor to predators, with the feet offering a most peculiar fragrance that is enticing to bears. Like stinky cheese, no doubt. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cause-of-death-feet-licked-by-bear/550384.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cause-of-death-feet-licked-by-bear/550384.md?page=3)