Posted
on July 14, 2015
There seems to be some
disagreement about when Shark Awareness Day is – is it July 14?
July 15? July 17? – but I figure, with shark attacks being in the
news right now, let's start as soon as possible and keep on talking
about sharks all week!
So – are sharks a huge
danger to humans? Or is it more fair to say that the reverse is true?
Believe it or not, even
with North Carolina reporting (at the time of my writing) eight shark
attacks in just three weeks (!). we are still much more of a danger
to sharks than they are to us.
First, why would I say
such a nutty thing right after typing “eight shark attacks in just
three weeks”?
 |
| NOTE: This is NOT what the waters of North Carolina look like right now! |
Well, scientists tell us
that the sharks off the coast of North Carolina are not suddenly
craving human snacks. Instead, weather and population booms in the
sharks' favorite fishy food means that there are a lot more sharks a
lot closer to shore, and they are snapping at splashing creatures
assuming that they are fish. The shark attacks were not
gulp-gulp-yum! sorts of attacks – instead, the sharks bit and then
let go. We can assume that once the sharks realized that they'd
bitten into such a relatively large creature, and/or that the
creature they'd bitten didn't taste fishy, they let go. No humans
died in these encounters. (To read more about the NC attacks, check
out this article.)
Also,
when we hear that there are more shark attacks, we automatically feel
that we are in more danger. But in actual fact, more people are in
the water, so the RATE of attacks (in most places) have actually
dropped. People in California, for example, are a lot – lot – lot
– lot safer now than ever. Check out this article, which
shows that an individual's risk has dropped by more than 90%!!
So,
how many people die in shark attacks each year? Last year only three
people died, in the entire world, from shark attacks. Some years it's
more like ten human deaths from sharks.
In
contrast, how 100 to 270 MILLION sharks are killed each year by
humans!
To
really get this contrast, check out this infographic,
comparing how many people sharks kill per year to how many sharks
people kill PER HOUR. It makes the point!
To
find out more about Shark Awareness Day, check out this short video. Another shark day is celebrated in May; check out this post on Fintastic Friday.
Also
on this date:
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