A photo posted to Tourons of Yellowstone (@touronsofyellowstone) shows two tourists negligently hanging out near a scalding hot spring.
The picture shows one woman holding another by one hand as she leans toward the water. The danger wasn't even rewarded with an especially original picture. Plenty of tourists seem to think dangling over certain doom makes for a good photo op.
Yellowstone National Park, and any park that includes pools of boiling water, has regulations on keeping distance from pools for visitors' own safety. Some have tried cooking food in hot springs, which can contaminate delicate ecosystems within the pools themselves. Other infractions have led to hefty fines and outright bans.
Hot springs in Yellowstone are about 198 degrees Fahrenheit, which is amply hot to hurt anybody exposed to the water. Visitors have walked away with burns after ignoring warnings, but more than 20 people have died among the park's geothermal pools, geysers, mudpots, steam vents, and hot springs.
More broadly, tourists are encouraged to stay on dedicated paths to preserve the natural state of the park. Visitors can erode natural features, such as plants, that the local ecosystem depends on. That means less food and habitat for animals.
Going outside of visitor areas and approaching wildlife can agitate animals, alter migration patterns, and interfere with feeding and mating habits. Animals that become accustomed to humans may be more likely to approach and attack them, or the wildlife might be scared away from areas it needs to access.
Instagram followers were quick to oppose the kind of behavior shown at the hot spring.
"Darwinism at its best. Thin out the gene pool," one community member said.
"A woman died last year falling in a hot spring. Imagine boiling to death. Ugh," another warned.
Someone else wrote, "Common sense is so rare it ought to be a superpower!"
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