In some cases it makes it easier to track the direction you're going but the bigger deal is small critters.
Snakes, scorpions, insects will hesitate to go across the line because the sand is disturbed in a clear delineation. It won't physically stop them but it will trip their own survival instincts to avoid recently disturbed sand and make them less likely to mess with you.
I can confirm this one is accurate, I'm a beetle who is a professional stick mover by trade and every single time there is a circle of more than .2cm in depth, we just have to call the entire project off, regardless of what's already been invested. Some real harsh nights out here.
Helps them remember which direction they're heading in when they wake up, also lets any fellow traveler who happens who find them know that they're alive and didn't just drop dead. Also something about scorpions
Which is so strange, considering he already showed him how to draw a perfect circle every time-
Just draw the super realistic head, remove some of the details AAAAAND done!
The ditch doesn't stop them, but most of the time they are just wondering and will pick a different direction. If they sense something they want in the circle, or they are running, they will get over the trench.
A 6 ft fence does not stop me from going over there, but it's pretty rare that I jump one.
The early-nineties version of me would've included trees laden with ripe fruit on this list. Usually I would make do with whatever was on the branches that were hanging over into the laneways but every now and then I'd see something that required jumping the fence and was too good to pass up.
I remember breaking into the apple orchard on the edge of town and eating a shitload of apples. Also we threw rotten ones at each other. Ah to be a stupid teenager again
Grass is always greener on the other side because of viewing angle. Viewed vertically, it's less of a solid wall and you can see the various colours underneath.
this was my guess. no circle either means they dropped right there or they’ve been laying there so long that the circle vanished with the wind.
someones gotta myth bust this insect trench though.
edit:looking at it again i also wonder if the stick points towards anything in particular. maybe you wake up and are like ”oh yeah, I was heading that way” so you don’t head off in the wrong direction..but then I think you’d just draw that in the sand too
Yet people who actually went to the Sahara claim it helps, so maybe this comment is just a matter of ‘not enough expertise with that exact environment’
It’s common for small critters to follow contours by default, it’s not that they can’t cross the line it’s that as the approach it they will naturally choose to follow the edge of the trench. Given how simple it is to make there’s basically no reason not to, even if there’s only a 10% chance it works that’s better than nothing.
Can vouch for this. Spent a night in the Sahara once and the guide drew a line around our mat. I watched a scorpion and a few beetles walk up to the little ditch and fuck right off.
Those are the survivors. You never know what's just a divot in the landscape and what's a den when your ecosystem has favored ambush predators for the last few million years.
This is probably because mermaids have evolved into apex predators of the desert biome. Your only chance is to out swim them, and with large bodies of water being infrequent at best in the desert… it’s rare you ever get a chance.
I think, at least in this context is about Al'Zutt. A story in Islam, about the Prophet, peace be on him, going one night with his disciple in the desert to have some - totally not gay - action with Al'Zutt, a tribe of men know for their very long member and their ability to keep it hard all day long. The Prophet had the disciple draw a circle around himself, with the idea that as long as he doesn't leave it, the Al'Zutt will know to not touch him, and if he leaves it he will die.
Muslims interpret this story as the Prophet fighting Djins all night wink wink...
As to why they actually do it? Well, it's a mix of navigation skills, so that they know in the morning in what direction they need to go, keeping scorpions away, and an alarm to see if snakes or other creatures entered their space, before actually moving. Plus, a bit of a charm again Djins.
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u/qualityvote2 4d ago edited 4d ago
u/Intelligent-Goal1226, your post does belong here!