I understand they are out there, I understand there is an ecosystem and they are important to that ecosystem... all that goes out the window when you see a great white cruising through the water. We're cool as long as they are out at sea and not where I'm at.
Yes, that's true of large predators in general, like tigers and grizzly bears. But traditionally, while people realize that these animals can be dangerous, people don't hate these animals but want to protect them, just away from people. This was different from the feeling towards sharks, which were hated. It is good that they are beginning to be viewed like other predators.
I listened to a yogi talking about mindfulness. He mentioned a session he had with a woman where they where working on the concept of flow. The woman had an experience of flow when she was bitten by a shark.
She said that if she could make a drink that would create that feeling she would addicted the world.
I think about that sometimes.
That's reminiscent of Livingstone's description of the time he was mauled by a lion:
"The shock produced a stupor similar to that which seems to be felt by a mouse after the first shake of the cat. It caused a sort of dreaminess, in which there was no sense of pain nor feeling of terror, though quite conscious of all that was happening."
Anecdotally, people's fear of sharks still feels very overblown. I've gone surfing in SoCal a couple times a month for the last 5 years or so, I've never known anyone that's had a shark attack, and have only been told "there's a shark nearby" once. On the other hand, many friends have hit rocks, got caught in rip currents, and or had stingray stings. Even though the severity of these things is less than a shark attack, their prevalence means that there are many more deaths every year due to these relatively mundane things. But when I offer to teach somebody to surf, sharks are still one of the most common objections (it's probably second to "I can't swim").
None of this contradicts what the study is saying -- it's totally possible that the overall fear is decreasing. It's just _still irrationally high_, imo.
As a Southern California kid in the 70s we were regular beach goers, my pal down the street as much as anyone. We went and saw Jaws in a drive in at about age 13. It didn't make a big impression on me, but he never went back in the ocean for the rest of his life, about 40 more years. He wasn't otherwise neurotic or phobic, but he got one-shot by Spielberg.
Depends, if they're representative / a good cross-section it'd be statistically significant enough. That said, I wonder how they get these surveys; there's a number of "get paid pennies to fill in a survey for studies" schemes out there, I can well imagine the quality of the responses of those is not great.
Jaws is the only movie (within reason I guess) that I don't let my 13 year old watch.
We live by the sea with one of the world's best marine reserves right off shore. There are plenty of fish including sharks living right off the beach and you need nothing more than a mask and snorkel to get right in amongst them.
When I watched Jaws as a kid when it first came out, it scared me shitless and I still carry some of that trauma whenever I am snorkeling over a deep canyon where the blue just goes on forever and you can't see the bottom.
I just don't want my child to miss out on that because of the ability of Hollywood to scare us.
But yeah. I had the fortune to see Jaws on a bus in highland Bolivia (talk about a weird choice for forced onboard entertainment!), and it was more annoying than it was scary.
Orcas are apex predators (and feed on sharks, in fact). Grizzlies are apex predators that occasionally attack humans.
But sharks are more akin to wolves: they live outside reality and statistics as a folklorish monster, just waiting to pull you under the waves or crossdress and eat you whole.
It's about the irrational mythos, not their place in the real world.
I suspect there are also just a lot more interactions between humans and cows each year. Then again, we're responsible for a lot more cow fatalities as well, so if anything those cows are just fighting back.
I was attacked by a mad (as in angry) cow just for walking by on a hike, maybe 20 feet away but not otherwise interacting with her. I hid behind a tree until she went after another cow. Now I give them more space.
My lot backs up to a cow ranch, and I once heard one making the most amazing, and intimidating noises. It was the cow voice you're used to, but "singing" through multiple octives like her soul was being tortured in hell. There are messed up cows just like people.
I've been around cattle intermittently since I was a child, and 20 feet is too close if you don't have to be there and don't have a relationship with them.
A cow can absolutely kill you, and easily outrun you. Not likely, but can. Same as a hog, or for that matter a moving car. None of these are inherently friendly, as a group.
Can confirm. A neighbour had a cow that would batter down fences to get out and chase people, and headbutt cars. Didn't matter how we fenced the field off, she'd break out.
Turns out a deep freeze is plenty stockproof. No-one's got time for that nonsense, and every last bit was delicious right down to the last drop of oxtail soup.
Yeah, when you think about how many people are in the water they are incredibly rare. I grew up surfing and never thought much about sharks. I knew they were out there, but the drive to the beach was much more dangerous.
Apparently in parts of the world where tiger attacks are relatively common, house cats still hospitalise more people per year than tigers.
One wonders if this is because it's not really worth taking someone that's been really attacked by a tiger to the hospital, unless you've got a couple of poly bags and a coolbox handy.
Any average would seem regular. One chomping at a given interval.
But we don't know from the average anything about regularity. Maybe all 47 chomps were in the last few weeks, maybe not. One is regular the other is irregular.
Agree. Though I read that shark attacks are increasing. Possibly due to changing water temperatures, or humans over-fishing their natural prey, leading them to look elsewhere.
According to the Florida Museum of Natural History's International Shark Attack File (ISAF), there were just 47 unprovoked attacks last year (worldwide, 2024), 22 fewer compared to 2023 and below the 10-year annual average of 70.
It's a good question, so good in fact that's it's addressed in the linked article.
Examples of "provoked" attacks that occured while interacting with sharks include bitten while spear fishing sharks, bitten while removing from nets or hooks, etc.
Unprovoked attacks are shark bites while swimming, surfing, generally minding ones own business.
It's explicit in the source that provoked attacks are understood.
If people were honest, we'd likely discover that unprovoked snake bites are almost unheard-of.
Likewise, if every drowning victim were routinely checked for BAC, I think we'd discover that sober people are much more drown-resistant than the stats would indicate. Unfortunately, water + play correlates highly with beer/wine cooler/hard seltzer consumption, in the US at least.
People make a lot of bad decisions, and it has effects.
I understand they are out there, I understand there is an ecosystem and they are important to that ecosystem... all that goes out the window when you see a great white cruising through the water. We're cool as long as they are out at sea and not where I'm at.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Street_Sharks
"The shock produced a stupor similar to that which seems to be felt by a mouse after the first shake of the cat. It caused a sort of dreaminess, in which there was no sense of pain nor feeling of terror, though quite conscious of all that was happening."
https://historyweblog.com/2014/10/lion-attacks-livingstone/
None of this contradicts what the study is saying -- it's totally possible that the overall fear is decreasing. It's just _still irrationally high_, imo.
It could also be just a good common excuse (and also a cover for the sometimes embarrassing "can't swim")
Parents fear kidnappers more than car accidents. The elderly fear whatever the news is telling them to fear more than heart disease or falling.
...or maybe they don't fear it enough, given https://nos.nl/artikel/2590957-vier-jongens-uit-cementslib-b....
The Right, going well: https://youtu.be/cYb9HOuhBrc?t=299
The Right, a bit wrong: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjHaFOGBPzk
More on that location: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X03-6lTxFTg
I'm pretty sure that's not a significant enough sample size to matter.
We live by the sea with one of the world's best marine reserves right off shore. There are plenty of fish including sharks living right off the beach and you need nothing more than a mask and snorkel to get right in amongst them.
When I watched Jaws as a kid when it first came out, it scared me shitless and I still carry some of that trauma whenever I am snorkeling over a deep canyon where the blue just goes on forever and you can't see the bottom.
I just don't want my child to miss out on that because of the ability of Hollywood to scare us.
On the other hand, I totally forgot about Sharknado until just now; that's my next movie night pick and my kid's gonna love it.
Or maybe it's the time of year??
[Edit - added:] I wonder if you need to have watched both "Jaws" and "Beverly Hills 90210" to enjoy the series?
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9755806/
But yeah. I had the fortune to see Jaws on a bus in highland Bolivia (talk about a weird choice for forced onboard entertainment!), and it was more annoying than it was scary.
https://youtu.be/G8LmxwOgBhA
If that's real, and not anthropomorphized, it shows that sharks are complex creatures, not mindless predators.
And it also tragically shows how much damage we humans do to the natural world. Sport fishing? Not so much for the fish...
She seems a little too close for comfort to Timothy Treadwell https://youtu.be/watch?v=uWA7GtDmNFU
But unlike Timothy, she doesn't appear to be a batshit-insane, risktaking showoff. She doesn't claim, nor act like, sharks are her friends.
Imagine if shark outer appearance were more mammal-cute, but they'd kept their behaviour - they'd be cuddly super stars with a stellar reputation!
Orcas are apex predators (and feed on sharks, in fact). Grizzlies are apex predators that occasionally attack humans.
But sharks are more akin to wolves: they live outside reality and statistics as a folklorish monster, just waiting to pull you under the waves or crossdress and eat you whole.
It's about the irrational mythos, not their place in the real world.
But I don’t think the public sees sharks as monsters to be destroyed.
Sharks are wild animals and we are in their habitat.
Sharks deserve protection even if they eat people.
https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/shark-attacks/yearly-world...
There are 4 confirmed fatalities in 2024 and 47 unprovoked bites.
To put that into perspective - there's about 4-5 fatal cow attacks in the UK alone a year.
https://cattlesafety.co.uk/facts-stats/when-cows-attack
My lot backs up to a cow ranch, and I once heard one making the most amazing, and intimidating noises. It was the cow voice you're used to, but "singing" through multiple octives like her soul was being tortured in hell. There are messed up cows just like people.
A cow can absolutely kill you, and easily outrun you. Not likely, but can. Same as a hog, or for that matter a moving car. None of these are inherently friendly, as a group.
Can confirm. A neighbour had a cow that would batter down fences to get out and chase people, and headbutt cars. Didn't matter how we fenced the field off, she'd break out.
Turns out a deep freeze is plenty stockproof. No-one's got time for that nonsense, and every last bit was delicious right down to the last drop of oxtail soup.
One wonders if this is because it's not really worth taking someone that's been really attacked by a tiger to the hospital, unless you've got a couple of poly bags and a coolbox handy.
Pretty regular.
But we don't know from the average anything about regularity. Maybe all 47 chomps were in the last few weeks, maybe not. One is regular the other is irregular.
/stupid nitpick
What about provoked attacks? And who's going out there provoking sharks?
I also like the implication that the provoked attacks are understandable and don't count
Examples of "provoked" attacks that occured while interacting with sharks include bitten while spear fishing sharks, bitten while removing from nets or hooks, etc.
Unprovoked attacks are shark bites while swimming, surfing, generally minding ones own business.
It's explicit in the source that provoked attacks are understood.
If people were honest, we'd likely discover that unprovoked snake bites are almost unheard-of.
Likewise, if every drowning victim were routinely checked for BAC, I think we'd discover that sober people are much more drown-resistant than the stats would indicate. Unfortunately, water + play correlates highly with beer/wine cooler/hard seltzer consumption, in the US at least.
People make a lot of bad decisions, and it has effects.
Fair chance there are more of them.
That truly made me laugh ...