survival

thumb|United States Marine Corps|U.S. Marines learning [[survival skills from a Thai military officer]] thumb|Survival outpost in Antarctica, designed to shelter humans from harsh environmental conditions

Survival or survivorship, the act of surviving, is the propensity of something to continue existing despite conditions that might kill or destroy it. The concept can be applied to humans and other living things (or, hypothetically, any sentient being), to a physical object, and to abstract things such as beliefs or ideas. Living things generally have a self-preservation instinct to survive, while objects intended for use in harsh conditions are designed for survivability.