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[MetalSlimeHunt]

I've heard "like pork" and "like jaguar, but with too much salt".

I'd suspect that in many cases the meat is under/uncooked, which leads to more bad reports.

Few animals hunt humans, but that may be due to our position on the food chain. Among those that do or are given an opportunity, humans will be eaten the same as everything else.

[Neonivek]

Among those that do or are given an opportunity, humans will be eaten the same as everything else.

Sort of. There are a few predators that find our hide too tough... so they will only eat our tongues.

Which is odd, isn't our hide about as soft as it gets in the animal kingdom? or is there something else to us?

Sharks likewise prefer not to eat human meat (but I think it is the same for other land animals)

[MetalSlimeHunt]

Sharks attacking humans generally believe they're going after an otter or fish. They're risk-averse, and upon realizing the mistake will often flee. They may even re-confuse the "otter" as being a dolphin, which sharks definitely avoid as hard as possible.

White-Tipped Mako actively hunt humans, however.

[Neonivek]

Difficult question GO!!!

A common scene in movies is a human needs to get an animal or person to eat...

So they eat or pretend to eat themselves and that somehow convinces whatever it is to eat.

That seems dubious... is this based on anything?

I know that some animals are inclined to do something if they see you do it (Birds are commonly like that.)... But I can't think "I'll eat this" is that convincing to an animal that doesn't want to eat... Or even a baby.

[Rolan7]

Okay, you don't have to answer here.  And I don't mean any offense, in fact I've always wished for this situation.
Are you literally an extraterrestrial?

Or I guess are you just from some culture where that's a thing.
I've seen a lot of evidence that you're from Canada, but that still blows my mind.

tldr;
that's not common, what movies are you WATCHING

Edit:  Because I REALLY WANT TO WATCH THEM

[Arx]

I sometimes nibble or fake nibble something I'm trying to feed to the parrot. It does happen, and it's even somewhat successful.

[timferius]

Okay, you don't have to answer here.  And I don't mean any offense, in fact I've always wished for this situation.
Are you literally an extraterrestrial?

Or I guess are you just from some culture where that's a thing.
I've seen a lot of evidence that you're from Canada, but that still blows my mind.

tldr;
that's not common, what movies are you WATCHING

Edit:  Because I REALLY WANT TO WATCH THEM

I'd say it's common enough. With babies/kids, the idea is showing them that it tastes good. With animals I imagine the idea is showing them it's food. Whether or not it actually works I have no idea, but I know I've tried it with my kids at various points, though they're all old enough they don't trust me anymore now...
That all being said, I can't think of WHICH shows/movies it's in, just that I know it's common enough I can think of it.

[inteuniso]

Is it well-known that a compound isolatable from mandrake solution, Anisodamine, is used to treat advanced circulatory shock in China?

[Frumple]

It is not. Also I'm not sure most people have ever seen that word, and barely know what mandrake actually is besides. _{Alllsooo don't think most people remember what a compound is, either, if they ever learned to begin with. If the question is "Do most people know <thing that requires more than absolutely basic scientific and/or medical study or exposure>" the answer is almost always, "No."}

And re: the eating thing, yeah, it works. The big trick at least vis a vis humans, is that it's pretty easy for us to identify what other animals (including other humans, of course) can eat the things we do without getting sick. So we gravitate fairly trivially towards using other people as a metric of "will this cause me to violently expel my bowels and die". Other animals'll do it, too -- see if something else (usually their own species, sometimes others) will eat something before being willing to try it under normal circumstances themselves.

... though for humans, that mostly applies to somewhat older ones. The very young'll pretty much just mimic everything they see trying to figure out what gives positive and negative reinforcement, at least once they're (somewhat) out of the blind grasping and sucking on whatever they get in their mouth phase.

[Parsely]

Is stabbing someone in the back really a good way to kill someone? There's all those bones in the way.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

There's a lot of bones in the front, too. The back of the skull contains the largest opening to the brain, so stabbing someone there is pretty effectively fatal. With a decently long blade you could probably get at the lungs and heart without having to deal with the ribcage. Of course, the real thing to follow is not anterior/posterior but the locations of major arteries. Anything matching or exceeding a partial sever to any of them will be invariably fatal without medical treatment and require advanced intervention, so even good first aid will only slow it down. The massive loss of blood pressure will also usually incapacitate the victim.

[Arx]

The back also has scope for liver, kidneys, other organ damage, and you usually have a fairly clear strike, which is probably the biggest factor. People don't enjoy being stabbed.

[Neonivek]

Ok here is one I guess

Why are mercenaries maligned in fiction?

In terms of being an asset mercenaries were often much more skilled, knowledgeable, and often equipped than long standing armies.

This goes even further where some orders who were Mercenaries (Hello Knight Templars!) at least for a time are... sort of sanitized of that aspect.

---

The general way mercenaries are depicted is that they are completely war/battle thirsty or "exposed" so to speak. Kind of unable to live in polite society.

They are often fairly traitorous with no real loyalty to anyone. Which I guess is because... as Mercenaries they have to play both sides after their contracts are up.

They are often quite criminal, basically acting more like Bandits who are being legitimized.

Oddly enough the whole "Exposed" aspect is often applied to soldiers, albeit in a sympathetic "Lets not associate" sort of way (Which is wrong, but I am not trying to moralize here).

---

Maybe I am putting too much on this actually being related to anything factual.

This is like people with disabilities. Writing on them is less from their honest to goodness perspective but rather from the way people who aren't disabled view that very disability... as well as a sort of hopeful diatribe about suffering in dignity or something on those lines.

Heck I rarely see anything about what I usually experience which is the knowledge that you need help but that very help comes at the expense of your self-direction and really just burdens the people around you even more. SURE, I can get medication for my depression, I can get help in school because of my depression, I can even find a job much easier if I use my depression... But then I have to advocate for my depression.

But I've also been spurned by the system that says they will help me with my problems. Finding that the limitations are quite finite.

So the whole Soldiers and Mercenary aspect might be less... factual.

And more the idea of how someone whose life is dedicated to killing for money works.

Oddly enough I RAAAAARELY see fiction that sympathizes with why some mercenary and pirate groups come to be... well outside a few Metal Gears. The system basically creates soldiers, gives them no support structure, then drops them with one skill.

[TheBiggerFish]

*looks at Schlock Mercenary*

But yeah.

[Frumple]

I'unno, generally even if it comes back in another form it comes back later, after you've had time to prepare a bit more and clear out the orcs or whatev'. So either jacking and tossing the thing works and things are good, or it doesn't and you still get a while to call in better reinforcements or undermine said evil's material base or somethin'. Seems like a win/win to me.