Post by Zadkiel on Mar 21, 2016 10:09:39 GMT
Negative public perception of sharks has proliferated their image as man-eaters since before Steven Spielberg’s summer blockbuster classic Jaws made you afraid to go into the water. But technically speaking, sharks don't seek out humans for food. When an attack does occur, it's most likely that the territorially-minded shark has mistaken the human for its actual prey (a seal, for example). In fact, most of the time, shark bites are actually “exploratory bites” in which a curious shark tries to determine if what it's biting is food. But despite the relatively slim chance of being attacked by a shark, there are some exceptions.
Of the hundreds of known species of sharks, only about a dozen are considered dangerous - including the great white, tiger shark and bull shark - and thus responsible for the most human attacks. The United States has the most recorded attacks, according to the International Shark Attack File; 1,022 total have been recorded between 1670 and 2012. Though Australia is second in total attacks, it has the most reported fatalities (144 as of 2012).
According to the Global Shark Attack File (GSAF), a similarly-named resource that seeks to “provide current and historical data on shark/human interactions” to the public, shark attack indices are divided into five separate categories. The most common categories are “Provoked” - in which “the shark was speared, hooked, captured or in which a human drew ‘first blood’” - and “Unprovoked”, which results when “a shark perceives a human as a threat or competitor for a food source”.
Of the hundreds of known species of sharks, only about a dozen are considered dangerous - including the great white, tiger shark and bull shark - and thus responsible for the most human attacks. The United States has the most recorded attacks, according to the International Shark Attack File; 1,022 total have been recorded between 1670 and 2012. Though Australia is second in total attacks, it has the most reported fatalities (144 as of 2012).
According to the Global Shark Attack File (GSAF), a similarly-named resource that seeks to “provide current and historical data on shark/human interactions” to the public, shark attack indices are divided into five separate categories. The most common categories are “Provoked” - in which “the shark was speared, hooked, captured or in which a human drew ‘first blood’” - and “Unprovoked”, which results when “a shark perceives a human as a threat or competitor for a food source”.
