Be ware!Or you will be a snack!!
![Picture](/uploads/1/0/0/1/10011167/1335268923.png)
Shark attacks are very rare.In 2008,there were 118 attacks reported world-wide,and 4 deaths.Of those attacks,59 were "unprovoked," which means that the shark attacked someone who was not doing anything to deliberately attract or touch it.In contrast,an average of 125,000 people 0f snakebites each year.But only five species that attacks people.Great white,sand tiger shark,hammerhead, bull shark, and gray reef shark.Usually great white attacks people,
A shark attack is an attack on a human by a shark. Every year around 100 shark attacks are
reported worldwide, although death is quite unusual. There were, however, 17
recorded fatalities caused by shark attacks in 2011 alone of 118 recorded
attacks[1]
meaning around 15% of attacks led to death. Despite the relative rarity of shark
attacks, the fear of sharks is a common phenomenon, having been fueled by the
occasional instances of serial attacks, such as the Jersey Shore shark attacks of 1916, and by horror
fiction and films, such as the Jaws series. Almost all shark experts feel
that the danger presented by sharks has been exaggerated, and even the creator
of the Jaws phenomenon, the late Peter Benchley, attempted to dispel the myth of
sharks being man-eating monsters in the years before his death.
Contents [hide]
[edit] Statistics
Confirmed
Unprovoked Shark Attacks, 1580–2011
Region
Total
Attacks
Fatal
Attacks
Last
Fatality
United States
(Excluding Hawaii)
980
36
2010
Australia
877
217
2012
Africa
314
85
2012
Asia
124
51
2011
Pacific Islands / Oceania
(Excluding
Hawaii)
124
50
2011
South America
105
23
2011
Hawaii
105
8
2004
Antilles and Bahamas
67
15
2010
Middle America
56
27
2011
New Zealand
47
8
2009
Europe
35
17
2011
Bermuda
3
0
--
Unspecified / Open Ocean
14
7
2006
Total:
5,213
1,333
2012
Source:
-International Shark Attack
File -Australian Shark Attack
File —July 2012
According to the International Shark Attack File (ISAF), between
1580 and 2011 there were 2,463 confirmed unprovoked shark attacks around the
world.[2]
Although Australia is ranked the second highest in terms
of global shark attacks with 877 attacks, it is ranked the highest in terms of
shark fatalities, with 217 fatalities.[3][4][5] The
United States had the most shark attacks in 2001, with 29 out of the 75 reported
around the world, but had no fatalities.[6] In
2000, there were 79 shark attacks reported worldwide, 11 of them fatal.[7] In
2005 and 2006 this number decreased to 61 and 62 respectively, while the number
of fatalities dropped to only four per year.[7] Of
these attacks, the majority occurred in the United States (53 in 2000, 40 in 2005, and 39 in
2006).[8] The New York Times reported in July 2008 that
there had been only one fatal attack in the previous year.[9] On
average, there are 16 shark attacks per year in the United States with one
fatality every two years.[10]
Despite these reports, however, the actual number of fatal shark attacks
worldwide remains uncertain. For the majority of Third World coastal nations,
there exists no method of reporting suspected shark attacks; therefore, losses
and fatalities at near-shore or sea there often remain unsolved or
unpublicized.[citation needed][11]
Australia has the highest amount of fatal shark
attacks in the world with Western Australia recently becoming the deadliest
place in the world for shark attacks.[12]
Australia and South Africa's fatality rate for shark attacks is approximately 30
percent. The United States has the highest reported amount of shark attacks but
has the lowest fatality rate with around 4 percent of those attacked dying. The
United States has had a total of 1,085 attacks (44 fatal) during the past 342
years (1670–2012).[13]
According to the ISAF, the states in the U.S. where the most attacks have
occurred in are Florida, Hawaii, California, Texas, and the Carolinas, though attacks have occurred in
almost every coastal state.[13] South Africa has a high number of shark attacks
along with a high fatality rate of 27 percent.[14]
The location with the most recorded shark attacks is New
Smyrna Beach, Florida.[15] First
world nations such as the United States, Australia, both high income countries,
and to some extent South Africa, an upper middle income country, facilitate more
thorough documentation of shark attacks on humans than poorer coastal
countries.
The Florida Museum of Natural History compares these
statistics with the much higher rate of deaths from other, less feared causes.
For example, an average of more than 38 people die annually from lightning strikes in coastal states, while less
than 1 person per year is killed by a shark.[16][17] In
comparison, 100 million sharks are killed every year by humans.[18][19][20]
Even considering only people who go to beaches, a person's chance of getting
attacked by a shark in the United States is 1 in 11.5 million, and a person's
chance of getting killed by a shark is less than 1 in 264.1 million.[21][22] In
the United States, the annual number of people who drown is 3,306, whereas the
annual number of shark fatalities is 1.[23]
[edit] Species involved in incidents
A blacktip reef shark. In rare circumstances such
as bad visibility, blacktips may bite humans, mistaking them for prey. Under
normal conditions, however, they are harmless and often even quite
shy.
Contrary to popular belief, only a few sharks are dangerous to humans. Out of
more than 360 shark species, only four have been involved in a
significant number of fatal unprovoked attacks on humans: the great white, tiger, bull[24] and
the oceanic whitetip.[25] These
sharks, being large, powerful predators, may sometimes attack and kill people;
however, they have all been filmed in open water by unprotected divers.[26][27] The
2010 French film Oceans shows footage of humans swimming next
to sharks deep in the ocean. It is possible that the sharks are able to sense
the presence of unnatural elements on or about the divers, such as polyurethane
diving suits and air tanks, which may lead them to accept temporary outsiders as
more of a curiosity than prey. Uncostumed humans, however, such as those
surfboarding, light snorkeling, or swimming, present a much greater area of open
meaty flesh to carnivorous shark predators. In addition, the presence of even
small traces of blood, recent minor abrasions, cuts, scrapes, or bruises, may
convince sharks to attack a human in their environment. Some sharks such as the
Hammerhead shark seek out prey through electroreception, sensing the electric fields
that are generated by all animals due to the activity of their nerves and
muscles. Most of the oceanic whitetip shark's attacks have not been
recorded,[25]
unlike the other three species mentioned above. Famed oceanographic researcher
Jacques Cousteau described the oceanic whitetip
as "the most dangerous of all sharks".[28]
Modern-day statistics show the oceanic whitetip shark as being seldom
involved in unprovoked attacks. However, there have been a number of attacks
involving this species, particularly during World War I and World War II. The oceanic whitetip lives in the
open sea and rarely shows up near coasts, where most recorded incidents occur.
During the world wars, many ship and aircraft disasters happened in the open
ocean, and due to its former abundance, the oceanic whitetip was often the first
species on site when such a disaster happened.
Watson and the Shark by J.S.
Copley, based on the attack on Brook Watson in Havana Harbor in 1749
Infamous examples of oceanic whitetip attacks include the sinking of the Nova Scotia, a British steamship carrying
1,000 people, that was sunk on 28 November 1942 near South
Africa by a German submarine in World War II. Only 192 people
survived, with many deaths attributed to the oceanic whitetip shark.[29] The
same species is probably responsible for many of the of the 60–80 or more shark
casualties following the torpedoing of the USS
Indianapolis on 30 July 1945.[30] Tiger
sharks may also have been involved.
In addition to the four species responsible for a significant number of fatal
attacks on humans, a number of other species have attacked humans without being
provoked, and have on extremely rare occasions been responsible for a human
death. This group includes the shortfin mako, hammerhead, Galapagos, gray reef, blacktip reef, lemon, silky, and blue sharks.[24] These
sharks are also large, powerful predators which can be provoked simply by being
in the water at the wrong time and place, but they are normally considered less
dangerous to humans than the previous group.
A few other shark species do attack people every year, producing wounds that
can potentially kill, but this occurs either specifically because they have been
provoked, or through mistaken identity due to water conditions or the like.
In the evening of 16 March 2009, a new addition was made to the list of
sharks known to attack human beings. In a painful but not directly
life-threatening incident, a long-distance swimmer crossing the Alenuihaha
Channel between the islands of Hawai‘i and Maui was attacked by a cookiecutter shark. The 2 bites, delivered about
15 seconds apart, were not immediately life-threatening.[31]
[edit] Types
of attacks
Shark attack indices use different criteria to determine if an attack was
"provoked" or "unprovoked." When considered from the shark's point of view,
attacks on humans who are perceived as a threat to the shark or a competitor to
its food source are all "provoked" attacks. Neither the International Shark
Attack File (ISAF) nor the Global Shark Attack File (GSAF) accord casualties of
air/sea disasters "provoked" or "unprovoked" status; these incidents are
considered to be a separate category.[32][33]
Postmortem scavenging of human remains (typically drowning victims) are also not
accorded "provoked" or "unprovoked" status.[34][33] The
GSAF categorizes scavenging bites on humans as "questionable incidents."[33] The
most common criteria for determining "provoked" and "unprovoked" attacks are
discussed below:
The great white shark is one of only four kinds of
sharks that have been involved in a significant number of fatal unprovoked
attacks on humans
[edit] Provoked
attack
Provoked attacks occur when the human touches the shark, pokes it, teases it,
spears, hooks, or nets it, or otherwise aggravates/provokes it in some way.
Incidents that occur outside of a shark's natural habitat, e.g., aquariums and
research holding-pens, are considered provoked, as are all incidents involving
captured sharks. Sometimes humans inadvertently "provoke" an attack, such as
when a surfer hits a shark with a surf board.
[edit] Unprovoked
attack
Unprovoked attacks are initiated by the shark—they occur in a shark's natural
habitat on a live human and without human provocation.[32][33] There
are three subcategories of unprovoked attack:
An incident occurred in 2011 when a 3-metre long great white shark jumped
onto a 7-person research vessel off Seal
Island, South Africa. The crew were undertaking a population study using sardines as bait, and the
incident was judged to be an accident.[36]
[edit] Reasons for attacks
After the great white, the tiger shark is the species involved in the most
unprovoked attacks on humans.[34]
Large sharks species are apex predators in their environment,[37] and
thus have little fear of any creature they cross paths with. Like most
sophisticated hunters, they are curious when they encounter something unusual in
their territories. Lacking any limbs with sensitive digits such as hands or
feet, the only way they can explore an object or organism is to bite it; these
bites are known as exploratory bites.[38]
Generally, shark bites are exploratory, and the animal will swim away after one
bite.[38] For
example, exploratory bites on surfers are thought to be caused by the shark
mistaking the surfer for the shape of prey.[39]
Nonetheless, a single bite can grievously injure a human if the animal involved
is a powerful predator like a great white or tiger shark.[40]
Despite a few rare exceptions,[41][42] it
has been concluded that feeding is not a reason sharks attack humans. In fact,
humans don't provide enough high-fat meat for sharks, which need a lot of energy
to power their large, muscular bodies.[39]
Sharks normally make one swift attack and then retreat to wait for the victim
to die or exhaust itself before returning to feed. This protects the shark from
injury from a wounded and aggressive target; however, it also allows humans time
to get out of the water and survive.[43] Shark
attacks may also occur due to territorial reasons or as dominance over another
shark species, resulting in an attack.[44]
Sharks are equipped with sensory organs called the Ampullae
of Lorenzini that detect the electricity generated by muscle
movement;[45]
another theory is that the shark's electrical receptors, which pick up movement,
pick up the signals like those emitted by wounded fish from someone who is
fishing or spearfishing, and thus attack the person by mistake.[44]
George H. Burgess, director of the International Shark Attack File, said the
following regarding why people are attacked: "Attacks are basically an odds game
based on how many hours you are in the water".[46]
[edit] Prevention
The bull shark is responsible for the third highest
number of unprovoked attacks on humans.[34] Bull
sharks can be found in the ocean and in freshwater rivers and lakes.[47]
While there is no way to completely eliminate the possibility of a shark
attack when one is in the water, one may take precautions such as:[48]
[edit] Self-defense
If a shark is sighted, stay calm and quickly swim to shore; try to minimize
your splashing. If this is not possible, maintain your position very quietly. If
attacked by a shark, fight back as aggressively as possible. "Playing dead" does
not work with sharks.[49][32] Claw
at the shark's gills and eyes, its most sensitive areas.[49][32] If
neither can be reached, hitting the shark on its nose (preferably with an
inanimate object) is another option.[32] This
may temporarily stun the shark and/or halt its attack completely; however, this
tactic will likely become increasingly less effective if the shark continues its
attack.[32] Once
you have been bitten, try to get out of the water as fast as possible.
[edit] Dolphins' protection
Many attacks have occurred on survivors of
shipwrecks or downed aircraft by the oceanic whitetip; these attacks are difficult to
confirm and are rarely included in shark attack indices.[47][34]
There are many documented instances of dolphins protecting humans from shark attacks,
such as one attack on a surfer in northern California in August 2007[50] and
one off the coast of New Zealand in 2004.[51] There
is no accepted explanation for this behavior; as mentioned in the Journal of
Zoology, "The importance of interactions between sharks and cetaceans has
been a subject of much conjecture, but few studies have addressed these
interactions".[52] In
some cases, sharks have been seen attacking, or trying to attack dolphins.[53] The
presence of porpoises does not indicate the absence of sharks as both eat the
same food.[54]
[edit] Media
impacts
The effect the media has on the population's view of shark attacks has
generally been negative. Using such theories as the cultivation theory and the effects of mean world syndrome,[55] it is
simple to see how such media as television and movies can quickly affect a
person's view. Starting with the effects generated from news broadcasts, a shark
attack is quickly broadcast across the country, particularly if fatal, even
though more people die from random occurrences such as lightning strikes than
from a shark attack.[56] This
will bring the fear of a shark attack to life as it becomes a reality for many
that hear of a particular incident. This heightened state of unnecessary fear is
accredited to the sometimes negative portrayal of sharks through television and
motion pictures.
Films such as Jaws[57] were
the cause of large-scale hunting and killing of thousands of sharks. There are
some television shows, such as the famous Shark Week[58], that
are dedicated to the preservation of these animals. They are able to prove
through scientific studies that sharks are not interested in attacking humans
and generally mistake humans as prey. It is, however, a mixture of these media
exposures that keep many people out of the water for fear of a shark attack.
[edit] See
also
reported worldwide, although death is quite unusual. There were, however, 17
recorded fatalities caused by shark attacks in 2011 alone of 118 recorded
attacks[1]
meaning around 15% of attacks led to death. Despite the relative rarity of shark
attacks, the fear of sharks is a common phenomenon, having been fueled by the
occasional instances of serial attacks, such as the Jersey Shore shark attacks of 1916, and by horror
fiction and films, such as the Jaws series. Almost all shark experts feel
that the danger presented by sharks has been exaggerated, and even the creator
of the Jaws phenomenon, the late Peter Benchley, attempted to dispel the myth of
sharks being man-eating monsters in the years before his death.
Contents [hide]
- 1 Statistics
- 2 Species involved in incidents
- 3 Types
of attacks
- 4 Reasons for attacks
- 5 Prevention
- 6 Dolphins' protection
- 7 Media
impacts - 8 See
also - 9 References
- 10 External
links
[edit] Statistics
Confirmed
Unprovoked Shark Attacks, 1580–2011
Region
Total
Attacks
Fatal
Attacks
Last
Fatality
United States
(Excluding Hawaii)
980
36
2010
Australia
877
217
2012
Africa
314
85
2012
Asia
124
51
2011
Pacific Islands / Oceania
(Excluding
Hawaii)
124
50
2011
South America
105
23
2011
Hawaii
105
8
2004
Antilles and Bahamas
67
15
2010
Middle America
56
27
2011
New Zealand
47
8
2009
Europe
35
17
2011
Bermuda
3
0
--
Unspecified / Open Ocean
14
7
2006
Total:
5,213
1,333
2012
Source:
-International Shark Attack
File -Australian Shark Attack
File —July 2012
According to the International Shark Attack File (ISAF), between
1580 and 2011 there were 2,463 confirmed unprovoked shark attacks around the
world.[2]
Although Australia is ranked the second highest in terms
of global shark attacks with 877 attacks, it is ranked the highest in terms of
shark fatalities, with 217 fatalities.[3][4][5] The
United States had the most shark attacks in 2001, with 29 out of the 75 reported
around the world, but had no fatalities.[6] In
2000, there were 79 shark attacks reported worldwide, 11 of them fatal.[7] In
2005 and 2006 this number decreased to 61 and 62 respectively, while the number
of fatalities dropped to only four per year.[7] Of
these attacks, the majority occurred in the United States (53 in 2000, 40 in 2005, and 39 in
2006).[8] The New York Times reported in July 2008 that
there had been only one fatal attack in the previous year.[9] On
average, there are 16 shark attacks per year in the United States with one
fatality every two years.[10]
Despite these reports, however, the actual number of fatal shark attacks
worldwide remains uncertain. For the majority of Third World coastal nations,
there exists no method of reporting suspected shark attacks; therefore, losses
and fatalities at near-shore or sea there often remain unsolved or
unpublicized.[citation needed][11]
Australia has the highest amount of fatal shark
attacks in the world with Western Australia recently becoming the deadliest
place in the world for shark attacks.[12]
Australia and South Africa's fatality rate for shark attacks is approximately 30
percent. The United States has the highest reported amount of shark attacks but
has the lowest fatality rate with around 4 percent of those attacked dying. The
United States has had a total of 1,085 attacks (44 fatal) during the past 342
years (1670–2012).[13]
According to the ISAF, the states in the U.S. where the most attacks have
occurred in are Florida, Hawaii, California, Texas, and the Carolinas, though attacks have occurred in
almost every coastal state.[13] South Africa has a high number of shark attacks
along with a high fatality rate of 27 percent.[14]
The location with the most recorded shark attacks is New
Smyrna Beach, Florida.[15] First
world nations such as the United States, Australia, both high income countries,
and to some extent South Africa, an upper middle income country, facilitate more
thorough documentation of shark attacks on humans than poorer coastal
countries.
The Florida Museum of Natural History compares these
statistics with the much higher rate of deaths from other, less feared causes.
For example, an average of more than 38 people die annually from lightning strikes in coastal states, while less
than 1 person per year is killed by a shark.[16][17] In
comparison, 100 million sharks are killed every year by humans.[18][19][20]
Even considering only people who go to beaches, a person's chance of getting
attacked by a shark in the United States is 1 in 11.5 million, and a person's
chance of getting killed by a shark is less than 1 in 264.1 million.[21][22] In
the United States, the annual number of people who drown is 3,306, whereas the
annual number of shark fatalities is 1.[23]
[edit] Species involved in incidents
A blacktip reef shark. In rare circumstances such
as bad visibility, blacktips may bite humans, mistaking them for prey. Under
normal conditions, however, they are harmless and often even quite
shy.
Contrary to popular belief, only a few sharks are dangerous to humans. Out of
more than 360 shark species, only four have been involved in a
significant number of fatal unprovoked attacks on humans: the great white, tiger, bull[24] and
the oceanic whitetip.[25] These
sharks, being large, powerful predators, may sometimes attack and kill people;
however, they have all been filmed in open water by unprotected divers.[26][27] The
2010 French film Oceans shows footage of humans swimming next
to sharks deep in the ocean. It is possible that the sharks are able to sense
the presence of unnatural elements on or about the divers, such as polyurethane
diving suits and air tanks, which may lead them to accept temporary outsiders as
more of a curiosity than prey. Uncostumed humans, however, such as those
surfboarding, light snorkeling, or swimming, present a much greater area of open
meaty flesh to carnivorous shark predators. In addition, the presence of even
small traces of blood, recent minor abrasions, cuts, scrapes, or bruises, may
convince sharks to attack a human in their environment. Some sharks such as the
Hammerhead shark seek out prey through electroreception, sensing the electric fields
that are generated by all animals due to the activity of their nerves and
muscles. Most of the oceanic whitetip shark's attacks have not been
recorded,[25]
unlike the other three species mentioned above. Famed oceanographic researcher
Jacques Cousteau described the oceanic whitetip
as "the most dangerous of all sharks".[28]
Modern-day statistics show the oceanic whitetip shark as being seldom
involved in unprovoked attacks. However, there have been a number of attacks
involving this species, particularly during World War I and World War II. The oceanic whitetip lives in the
open sea and rarely shows up near coasts, where most recorded incidents occur.
During the world wars, many ship and aircraft disasters happened in the open
ocean, and due to its former abundance, the oceanic whitetip was often the first
species on site when such a disaster happened.
Watson and the Shark by J.S.
Copley, based on the attack on Brook Watson in Havana Harbor in 1749
Infamous examples of oceanic whitetip attacks include the sinking of the Nova Scotia, a British steamship carrying
1,000 people, that was sunk on 28 November 1942 near South
Africa by a German submarine in World War II. Only 192 people
survived, with many deaths attributed to the oceanic whitetip shark.[29] The
same species is probably responsible for many of the of the 60–80 or more shark
casualties following the torpedoing of the USS
Indianapolis on 30 July 1945.[30] Tiger
sharks may also have been involved.
In addition to the four species responsible for a significant number of fatal
attacks on humans, a number of other species have attacked humans without being
provoked, and have on extremely rare occasions been responsible for a human
death. This group includes the shortfin mako, hammerhead, Galapagos, gray reef, blacktip reef, lemon, silky, and blue sharks.[24] These
sharks are also large, powerful predators which can be provoked simply by being
in the water at the wrong time and place, but they are normally considered less
dangerous to humans than the previous group.
A few other shark species do attack people every year, producing wounds that
can potentially kill, but this occurs either specifically because they have been
provoked, or through mistaken identity due to water conditions or the like.
In the evening of 16 March 2009, a new addition was made to the list of
sharks known to attack human beings. In a painful but not directly
life-threatening incident, a long-distance swimmer crossing the Alenuihaha
Channel between the islands of Hawai‘i and Maui was attacked by a cookiecutter shark. The 2 bites, delivered about
15 seconds apart, were not immediately life-threatening.[31]
[edit] Types
of attacks
Shark attack indices use different criteria to determine if an attack was
"provoked" or "unprovoked." When considered from the shark's point of view,
attacks on humans who are perceived as a threat to the shark or a competitor to
its food source are all "provoked" attacks. Neither the International Shark
Attack File (ISAF) nor the Global Shark Attack File (GSAF) accord casualties of
air/sea disasters "provoked" or "unprovoked" status; these incidents are
considered to be a separate category.[32][33]
Postmortem scavenging of human remains (typically drowning victims) are also not
accorded "provoked" or "unprovoked" status.[34][33] The
GSAF categorizes scavenging bites on humans as "questionable incidents."[33] The
most common criteria for determining "provoked" and "unprovoked" attacks are
discussed below:
The great white shark is one of only four kinds of
sharks that have been involved in a significant number of fatal unprovoked
attacks on humans
[edit] Provoked
attack
Provoked attacks occur when the human touches the shark, pokes it, teases it,
spears, hooks, or nets it, or otherwise aggravates/provokes it in some way.
Incidents that occur outside of a shark's natural habitat, e.g., aquariums and
research holding-pens, are considered provoked, as are all incidents involving
captured sharks. Sometimes humans inadvertently "provoke" an attack, such as
when a surfer hits a shark with a surf board.
[edit] Unprovoked
attack
Unprovoked attacks are initiated by the shark—they occur in a shark's natural
habitat on a live human and without human provocation.[32][33] There
are three subcategories of unprovoked attack:
- Hit-and-run attack – Usually non-fatal, the shark bites and then
leaves; most victims do not see the shark. This is the most common type of
attack and typically occurs in the surf zone or in murky water. Most hit-and-run
attacks are believed to be the result of mistaken identity.[35] - Sneak attack – The victim will not usually see the shark, and may
sustain multiple deep bites. This is the most fatal kind of attack and is not
believed to be the result of mistaken identity.[35] - Bump-and-bite attack – The shark circles and bumps the victim before
biting. Repeated bites are not uncommon and can be severe or fatal.
Bump-and-bite attacks are not believed to be the result of mistaken
identity.[35]
An incident occurred in 2011 when a 3-metre long great white shark jumped
onto a 7-person research vessel off Seal
Island, South Africa. The crew were undertaking a population study using sardines as bait, and the
incident was judged to be an accident.[36]
[edit] Reasons for attacks
After the great white, the tiger shark is the species involved in the most
unprovoked attacks on humans.[34]
Large sharks species are apex predators in their environment,[37] and
thus have little fear of any creature they cross paths with. Like most
sophisticated hunters, they are curious when they encounter something unusual in
their territories. Lacking any limbs with sensitive digits such as hands or
feet, the only way they can explore an object or organism is to bite it; these
bites are known as exploratory bites.[38]
Generally, shark bites are exploratory, and the animal will swim away after one
bite.[38] For
example, exploratory bites on surfers are thought to be caused by the shark
mistaking the surfer for the shape of prey.[39]
Nonetheless, a single bite can grievously injure a human if the animal involved
is a powerful predator like a great white or tiger shark.[40]
Despite a few rare exceptions,[41][42] it
has been concluded that feeding is not a reason sharks attack humans. In fact,
humans don't provide enough high-fat meat for sharks, which need a lot of energy
to power their large, muscular bodies.[39]
Sharks normally make one swift attack and then retreat to wait for the victim
to die or exhaust itself before returning to feed. This protects the shark from
injury from a wounded and aggressive target; however, it also allows humans time
to get out of the water and survive.[43] Shark
attacks may also occur due to territorial reasons or as dominance over another
shark species, resulting in an attack.[44]
Sharks are equipped with sensory organs called the Ampullae
of Lorenzini that detect the electricity generated by muscle
movement;[45]
another theory is that the shark's electrical receptors, which pick up movement,
pick up the signals like those emitted by wounded fish from someone who is
fishing or spearfishing, and thus attack the person by mistake.[44]
George H. Burgess, director of the International Shark Attack File, said the
following regarding why people are attacked: "Attacks are basically an odds game
based on how many hours you are in the water".[46]
[edit] Prevention
The bull shark is responsible for the third highest
number of unprovoked attacks on humans.[34] Bull
sharks can be found in the ocean and in freshwater rivers and lakes.[47]
While there is no way to completely eliminate the possibility of a shark
attack when one is in the water, one may take precautions such as:[48]
- avoiding the water at dawn, dusk, or night, when sharks tend to feed;
- avoiding areas where sharks generally locate themselves, such as murky
waters, sandbars, and steep drop-offs - avoiding swimming alone, always being near a group of people, and if
possible, avoiding being at the edge of the group; - refraining from excess splashing or movement;
- preventing pets from entering the water;
- avoiding shiny jewelry, tan lines and bright clothing, all of which can
attract sharks; - avoiding entering water if bleeding from an open wound or if menstruating;
- avoiding areas where prey animals of sharks live, for instance seals;
- avoiding areas where the remains of fish have been discarded into the water,
such as near fishermen cleaning their catch. - avoiding waters contaminated with sewage or runoff and areas frequented by
sport or commercial fisherman
[edit] Self-defense
If a shark is sighted, stay calm and quickly swim to shore; try to minimize
your splashing. If this is not possible, maintain your position very quietly. If
attacked by a shark, fight back as aggressively as possible. "Playing dead" does
not work with sharks.[49][32] Claw
at the shark's gills and eyes, its most sensitive areas.[49][32] If
neither can be reached, hitting the shark on its nose (preferably with an
inanimate object) is another option.[32] This
may temporarily stun the shark and/or halt its attack completely; however, this
tactic will likely become increasingly less effective if the shark continues its
attack.[32] Once
you have been bitten, try to get out of the water as fast as possible.
[edit] Dolphins' protection
Many attacks have occurred on survivors of
shipwrecks or downed aircraft by the oceanic whitetip; these attacks are difficult to
confirm and are rarely included in shark attack indices.[47][34]
There are many documented instances of dolphins protecting humans from shark attacks,
such as one attack on a surfer in northern California in August 2007[50] and
one off the coast of New Zealand in 2004.[51] There
is no accepted explanation for this behavior; as mentioned in the Journal of
Zoology, "The importance of interactions between sharks and cetaceans has
been a subject of much conjecture, but few studies have addressed these
interactions".[52] In
some cases, sharks have been seen attacking, or trying to attack dolphins.[53] The
presence of porpoises does not indicate the absence of sharks as both eat the
same food.[54]
[edit] Media
impacts
The effect the media has on the population's view of shark attacks has
generally been negative. Using such theories as the cultivation theory and the effects of mean world syndrome,[55] it is
simple to see how such media as television and movies can quickly affect a
person's view. Starting with the effects generated from news broadcasts, a shark
attack is quickly broadcast across the country, particularly if fatal, even
though more people die from random occurrences such as lightning strikes than
from a shark attack.[56] This
will bring the fear of a shark attack to life as it becomes a reality for many
that hear of a particular incident. This heightened state of unnecessary fear is
accredited to the sometimes negative portrayal of sharks through television and
motion pictures.
Films such as Jaws[57] were
the cause of large-scale hunting and killing of thousands of sharks. There are
some television shows, such as the famous Shark Week[58], that
are dedicated to the preservation of these animals. They are able to prove
through scientific studies that sharks are not interested in attacking humans
and generally mistake humans as prey. It is, however, a mixture of these media
exposures that keep many people out of the water for fear of a shark attack.
[edit] See
also