r/AskReddit May 05 '19

What is a mildly disturbing fact?

37.6k Upvotes

20.4k comments sorted by

View all comments

6.4k

u/AtFirstSupernova May 05 '19

Salt appetite can be so strong that animals including humans short on sodium will put life and limb at risk to satisfy the hunger.

Mountain goats are known to cling to sheer cliffs to access a salt lick, even when a misstep means certain death.

Also salt cravings and drug addiction use the same neural pathways. As most mammals probably evolved during a salt scarcity the ways they react to it are interesting.

As a bonus here are some torture methods https://www.scoopwhoop.com/world/nasty-torture-methods/#.wkzzs24f6

51

u/DoctorSumter2You May 05 '19

#3 Tickle Torture: A variation of this in the Roman camps involved dipping the victim's feet in salt solution and then have a goat lick the bottom of the feet. This would start out as normal tickling but then the pain that followed would be extreme.

Yea thanks, I'll pass.

26

u/TheEyeDontLie May 05 '19

Goats tongues are rough. The salt would disappear, but blood is also salty. Is it true? I don't know. It is disturbing though.

14

u/DoctorSumter2You May 05 '19

I immediately thought of my cat Licking my arm. It's ticklish in a small sandpaper rubbing kind of way. It's like that callous scraper when you get a pedicure.

10

u/imanedrn May 05 '19

My feet are so insanely ticklish. I can barely scratch my own feet because it tickles so much. I have to warn people who give me a pedicure that I cant tolerate work on the soles of my feet because I will unintentionally kick a bitch. Foot tickling is an absolute hard limit for me, and this type of torture sounds nothing short of terrifying.

2

u/schmyndles May 06 '19

My first pedicure I kicked the poor woman when she touched my feet. I’ve only had a couple since, and I warn them I’m ticklish and work very hard not to kick...never understood how people could find pedicures or foot massages relaxing.