Shark Attacks
I don't know about anyone else, but I am terrified of sharks. I do go into the water at the beach, but I usually bring a raft. With Spring Break and the Summer around the corner, I decided to find out the truth about shark attacks. Like a plane crash, the chances are slim to none; you actually have more of a chance of dying from slipping into the bathtub or being stung by a bee.
In 2000, there were 23 shark attacks (no deaths), versus 74 deaths from drowning. Experts say that most shark attacks are an accident--humans mistaken for another form of food. The number of attacks are rising(61 in 2004), but that is said to be because of the increase of people in the waters. Also, another study has shown the numbers of animal fatalities, and the shark is at the bottom.
I think that the media contibutes for the fear of shark attacks--they do not broadcast every dog attack, but make a big deal about sharks.
posted by Anonymous at
11:51 AM
1 Comments:
Good post. Here's a perspective about the statistics and probability of shark attacks. It also has the graph of the ratio of attacks to population (which is an excellent way of presenting the data).
Interestingly, it doesn't seem that the number fatal attacks has increased at all over the past century.
http://www.dartmouth.edu/~chance/chance_news/recent_news/chance_news_10.08.html#item3
By
John Topoleski, at 11:44 AM
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