While many of these calamities are out of our control, there are things you can do to up your chances of survival should you find yourself in the worst-case scenario. While many of these calamities are out of our control, there are things you can do to up your chances of survival should you find yourself in the worst-case scenario. Find yourself face-to-face with a lion, for example, and you'll need to make direct eye contact and back away very slowly. Your strategy in dealing with a dangerous encounter will depend entirely on the species of beast.