Contrary to the reputation of sharks as monsters who hunt people, there is an opinion that in fact they are not so dangerous for us. We decided to check if this is really true.

The fact that sharks do not eat people are written by the media (for example, Gazeta.ru And The Guardian), Portals About traveling, bloggers on "Picabu" And "Yandex.Zen". Some popular science sites They explain this by the fact that sharks simply do not like the taste of human meat. There is a mention of this fact in artistic fact literature.

In 1975, director Stephen Spielberg shot a horror movie "Jaws" About killer sharks attacking people. He became a cult and gave rise to many sequels, as well as a phobia in front of sharks among millions of spectators. But are these animals really so cruel and bloodthirsty?

By data The Florida Museum of Natural History, in 2021, only 71 sharks attack on people occurred around the world, and only nine cases of them ended in the death of a person. Moreover, this is one of the highest indicators over the past ten years - in 2019, for example, there were only two such cases. If compare The number of human deaths as a result of the attack of sharks with deaths from dog bites, then aggressive dogs “lead” several times (and in some years and several dozen times).

In Australia and the USA (namely, in these regions, clashes of people and sharks are most often occurred) by scientists and officials in general They ask Avoid words like “attack” in reports of such cases, offering to replace them with “incidents” or “accidents”, because, in their opinion, this more precisely reflects the essence of what is happening and helps to avoid fingering panic. Scientists They saythat only a small part of what is commonly called “Akula’s attack” is actually such.

But even if the shark really shows aggression, it rarely ends with serious injuries - primarily because not all sharks of such a huge size as in horror films. There are, for example, wobbegings, carpet sharks living at the bottom, which are very easy to step. Of course, in response, she can bite how a cat would have been bitten by a tail. Since the wobbegings on average about only about a meter long, most likely, the consequences of this bite will not be much more serious than from a cat, and nevertheless, this will also be classified as an attack by a shark per person.

British naturalist and biologist Kevin Morgan calls Several reasons that can lead to a shark attack, and none of them relate to hunting for the purpose of food. The most common reasons are a provocation from the person himself and the curiosity of the animal. After all, the shark has no hands, and if she wants to explore something, she makes it teeth. Professor Nathan Hart, Head of the Department of Biological Sciences of the University of McCoori, He thinksthat the cause of sharks attacks on humans can be poor vision of these animals. They simply do not understand that in front of them, they confuse people with marine mammals that they eat (for example, with sea cats), and can make, so to speak, a trial bite. Realizing that the taste and sensory sensations are not the same, the shark usually releases prey and floats up. Of course, we must understand that this very trial bite can also cause serious harm to a person and even lead to death.

Hart's opinion is confirmed by his colleague Laura Ryan. She spent study And she found out that through the thickness of the water, the surfers floating on the board, for sharks with their black and white unclear vision, look just like seals or sea seals. It is in this case, according to Ryan, the shark can attack a person - simply by mistake. At the same time, scientists Mark: The study of the consequences of sharks bites allows us to believe that when attacking marine mammals, sharks apply much greater strength than with people's bites. This indicates a rather research nature of contact on their part than an attempt to kill.

We are already Disassembled The common myth that sharks can smell human blood for several kilometers, sail and attack, and found out that this is a fake. On YouTube there are many videos where divers conduct experiments: they make an incision on the hand, being surrounded by sharks, and none of them show the slightest interest.

US National Ocean Service too He thinksthat people are not suitable for sharks for food. This is due to the fact that the evolution of these animals ended long before the appearance of a person, respectively, and their diet was determined many thousands of years before they could try human meat. Most sharks generally eat only small fish and invertebrates, and only the largest of them hunt more game (for example, sea cats and seals). A group of scientists from Australia found outthat hard skin and bones can completely harm the sharks - this is especially true for young individuals.

Thus, sharks are not at all as dangerous and aggressive as is commonly believed. Yes, they sometimes attack people, but this happens extremely rarely and even less often ends in death - precisely because the sharks of people do not eat.

By the way, writer Peter Benchi, whose novel formed the basis of the film “The Jaw”, subsequently regretted that he played such a noticeable role in the discrediting of sharks and creating an image of ruthless predators from them. At the end of his life, he actively defended these marine creatures and even wrote a book SHARK TROUBLEdedicated to how sometimes the pursuit of sensation can jeopardize the entire sea ecosystem. World Wild Foundation insiststhat sharks are dangerous to us to a much lesser extent than we are for them. Every year, people kill millions of these marine animals to satisfy the demand for their fins, shark fat and other parts of the carcass. Meanwhile, sharks are an important part of the marine ecosystem.