Sharks attack people first

“There is no evidence that sharks prefer to attack humans,” said Professor Gruber, who specializes in marine biology at the University of the Study of the Sea in Miami. He notes that of the more than 80 million people who endanger themselves in some way on the water each year, only a very small number are victims of shark attacks.

He also cites data from the National Security Council on the probabilities of deaths from various incidents. The chance of dying from a shark attack does not even compare with the chance of dying from falling from a bed or from an armchair (you have one chance out of 4,443).

Gruber suggests that in those rare cases when sharks attack humans, this is most often the result of a shark bug. For example, during World War II, the USS Indianopolis sank in a place teeming with sharks. Many people were injured or killed by shark attacks. For many, this fact will certainly confirm their opinion that sharks are real monsters. But Professor Gruber thinks otherwise.

“As a result of crowded air or water disasters, a situation may arise when there are a lot of people in the water, there is a lot of noise and a lot of wounded,” he says. “For sharks, such a strange abundance of food should look like a large flock of wounded turtles.” Indeed, sharks are extremely rare in contact with humans.Probably, many of them do not even know about our existence, not to mention purposefully hunting people.

Sharks track down surfers on their boards.

There is some truth in this observation, but only for some species of sharks. Gruber believes that a large white shark appears, being attracted by the silhouette of the board. He suggests that the silhouettes of some boards are perceived by large white sharks as the silhouette of one of the pinnipeds, for example, a seal, walrus or sea lion. He also notes that much more surf lovers die every year due to other accidents, and the chances of becoming a victim of a white shark are very small for them.

Sharks don't attack in the afternoon

Gruber believes that this is a classic case when people hang their own demeanor on animals. “Since very few attacks occur during the day, we conclude that sharks are much less dangerous during the day,” he says. “In reality, the thing is that people usually have lunch or relax at home during the day, as a result of which they are very few in the water.” With the same success, it can be said that statistics irrefutably confirm the fact that the owners of Toyota and Chevrolet are more vulnerable to shark attacks. “In fact, the point here is that most people simply own these brands of cars. This has nothing to do with sharks. ”

Sharks have no enemies

Wrong! “Killer whales occasionally attack sharks,” the professor says. Parasitic organisms also cause many shark deaths every year.Even sharks themselves eat each other. Bull and tiger sharks are especially famous for this and can even eat their own cubs, just like male cats can sometimes eat their kittens. “But humans are clearly the main enemies of sharks,” he says. A 2006 study found that people kill 73 million sharks a year, and the reason for this is the shark fin trade. And after that, sharks are considered heartless monsters!

Sharks are stupid

“The vast majority of people believe that sharks only kill, feed and breed. But depending on which side you look at the available information, the same can be said about people, ”says Gruber. In reality, sharks are very smart, and their mental abilities are on par with the mental abilities of birds and mammals. “Sharks can form a conditioned reflex faster than cats or rabbits,” he says.

The problem with these and other myths, according to Professor Gruber, is that we still know almost nothing about these charming and mysterious creatures. “When we don’t have a clue about something, we tend to resort to myths,” he explains. The scientist hopes that the pendulum of knowledge in the coming years from myths will slide towards science.

Once upon a time, people killed animals and each other, leaving a necklace from the teeth or ears of their victims as a keepsake, and it sounds wild now. But now people are killing animals, selling their body parts and buying jewelry for themselves - and this, unfortunately, is still normal.