Due to hollywood movies about sharks many people think of them as predatory creatures that will hunt down humans due to be blood thirsty. On the contrary sharks, don’t even like eating humans. The blood of humans doesn’t taste the same as the food they actually eat which is why when a person is attacked it usually just one bite.

Fish and seals and other various sea creatures make up that fearsome hunter’s diet. And they’ve evolved wonderfully to suit their trade; strong, fast, nimble, and lots and lots of teeth, which is a big part of why we find them so scary.

Frequently, what happens is that humans cause the sharks to attack by inadvertently copying natural animal activity. They swim way out in the ocean, paddling on their surf boards as they attempt to ride the crest of a great big wave. They don’t realize that they seem just like injured seals to the sharks swimming nearby. The result is a very regrettable accident, like a swimmer getting sucked up in a fierce undertow. The people shouldn’t be doing what they’re doing where they’re doing it.

Nevertheless, out of the millions of people who visit beaches each year, only about 12 are killed by sharks. Also, there are just about 90 shark attacks yearly, with many of them being just bumps or nudges, usually only leaving a bruise. Of course it is a tragedy whenever an accident occurs, but we must remember that these are accidents and not intentional actions on the part of sharks.

Strange though it may seem, falling coconuts actually cause 10 times as many injuries to humans as sharks do. The Tiger shark and the great white shark may be the most aggressive of sharks but they very rarely attack humans. You’ll find yourself more at risk whilst you drive to the beach, bearing in mind that driving kills more than 40,000 people on the US each year.

When a person is bitten by a shark, of course the victim deserves sympathy. But so the hundreds of sharks that will be hunted and killed in revenge. The sharks have no idea what they have done or why we are trying to kill them; unlike humans, they can’t be told why they are being subjected to a punishment. We have only two choices: to kill sharks, or to live with them peacefully. Killing them hasn’t made us safer, so perhaps we should try the second option.

Although the Hollywood image of sharks has left people afraid of the water, it’s important to be aware that they are not seeking out humans as prey. However, they sometimes mistake people as prey, when the people mimic the prey’s behavior. Even so, only a dozen or so people out of the millions that swim in the oceans each year, get killed by a shark attack. The Tiger shark and the great white shark may be the most aggressive but they rarely attack humans. You’ll find yourself more at risk while you drive to the beach, since driving kills more than 40,000 people in the US each year.