Warning: The following material contains graphic images!

In the fight for survival, the body and mind can overcome nearly impossible barriers.

When a group of hunters stumbled by chance over the body of a man with partially decomposing skin, they thought he was deceased.

However, when Alexander opened his blue eyes and stared at his rescuers, everyone was stunned.

One month is the time allegedly spent by this Russian man inside a bear den after surviving a brutal struggle with the beast.

After suffering injuries to his spine during the attack, he ended up inside a brown bear’s den where he survived by drinking his own urine. And his rescue was nothing short of miraculous!

When a Russian hunting patrol’s hounds wouldn’t stop barking, the group decided to investigate a cave in the Tuva region close to the Mongolian border. They went inside the den and discovered Alexander’s mutilated body.

Due to the dehydrated, pale-white skin, they thought they were looking at a mummified corpse. 

But were stunned to see the man was still alive, and immediately took him to a regional hospital.

Doctors said it was a “miracle” that the man wasn’t slaughtered by the bear and managed to survive for so long.

Alexander had “severe injuries and rotting tissue,” from lying in the dank environment and barely moving.

Doctors who took care of the man said they are clueless about how he survived with such injuries.

Apparently, after crippling the Russian explorer, the brown bear partially buried him in dirt and left to feast on him later.

Brown bears don’t usually eat rotten meat, except when they are starving. 

Other situations when they’ll resort to this type of meal is when they can dig through the decomposing meat to reach the good bits underneath.

They do eat carrion, but only when the corpse is killed fairly recently and is not already rotten.

If the bear encounters rotten parts, it’ll just eat around them.

However, a bear’s eating habits vary slightly depending on various factors like: “composition and condition of food, how widely the food is available, season, the animal’s sex, age and physical condition, personal preferences and experience, the presence of competitors, and disturbance from other predators and humans.”

In the case of brown bears, they have been known to bury their prey and even carrion, partially or completely, and return after days or weeks to consume it.

Ivan Seryodkin at Russia’s Academy of Sciences believes bears do this to hide their food from other scavengers while at the same time waiting for the meat to decompose and become ripe before eating it.

Whatever the case, it’s truly a miracle that Alexander was still alive when rescuers arrived at the scene.

Not much detail is known about this particular case except the bits of information extracted from the local Russian media.

The horrific episode this man experienced is similar to the blockbuster film ‘The Revenant’ where Leonardo DiCaprio survives a brutal bear fight – just that this time it’s all real.

In a world where reality can trump fiction (at least when venturing outdoors), you have to be prepared to face all challenges ahead.

In case of a brown bear encounter, you should try to fool it by making yourself look big and making a lot of noise that may confuse and scare the bear away.

If it’s too late for that, then you’ll have to fight the beast, and as a last resort play dead, although it’s likely the bear won’t leave you alone.

If you can make yourself look like a threat to the bear, it will leave you alone because it won’t risk injury, especially when you’re dealing with a mamma bear that needs to attend her cubs.

In any case, while roaming the wild, it’s always a good idea to carry a rifle with you and fire a few rounds in the air whenever a threat is nearby.

Bear pepper spray can work as well, but it can also annoy the beast and push it into a frenzy.

Keep your cool until the bear is in range and aim for its snout/face. This way you’ll impair its vision and senses and should send it running in fear.

It’s also important to stay within a group of people whenever you’re exploring bear territory.

The human chatter should ward off any curious furry visitors.

P.S.: Keep away from the bushes! Bears are extremely skilled at ambushing people from a bush.