Sharks

Sharks are one of the most misunderstood group of animals on the plant. You have a greater chance of being killed by a pig, dog, donkey, deer or bubble bee. More fatalities are attributed to taking a shower, riding a bicycle, jogging or just walking across the street. The odds are greater you’ll be killed by a stray golf ball or flying champagne cork. In the state of Connecticut, more people have been killed by an elephant than by a shark. In the United States, more people have been killed by vending machines. And worldwide, more people are killed by falling coconuts.

Sharks are considered one of the most efficient predators in the history of the Animal Kingdom. They’ve have been around for over 400 million years. That’s 200 million years before dinosaurs roamed the Earth.  The larger species of sharks can seriously injure someone they bite, but is it considered a shark attack?

Researchers refer to it as an ‘Exploratory Bite’; a shark bites someone, realizes their mistake and swims away. On average, roughly 100 people are bitten worldwide. Of these 100 encounters less than 10 people die. If sharks were the blood-thirsty killers that Hollywood and the media portray them as, these numbers would be a lot higher.

We are more of a threat to sharks than they have ever been to us. Between 70 to 100 million sharks are killed each year, 70% for the fins alone. Some researchers fear the number maybe closer to 200 million. There are over 400 types of sharks in existence today.  Evidence indicates a drastic drop in their populations, in just the last century. If more isn’t done soon, over half of larger shark species will either be considered highly endangered or functionally extinct. I’m not afraid of sharks, coconuts scare the hell out of me!