Dangerous Sharks
There are dangerous sharks in the world, but ever since the movie, JAWS, brought sharks into the spotlight, many people think all sharks are dangerous. Really, out of the 500+ species of sharks in the world, only around thirty have ever bitten a human being. And, out of that number, you can count on the fingers of one hand the number of truly dangerous sharks there are in the ocean. Overall, humans are more dangerous to sharks than sharks are to humans. Over 100 million sharks are killed by humans every year.
The International Shark Attack File (ISAF) has records of attacks on humans by dangerous sharks since the 1500s. The ISAF was started by the U.S. Navy in 1958 as part of the research for a project to potentially produce a shark repellant for servicemen whose planes were shot down or ships were sunk, and who ended up in the ocean waters. Funding for the project ended in the late 1960s, and the records are now in the co-possession of the Florida Museum of Natural History and the American Elasmobranch Society.
Here is some information about the top three sharks on this list of most dangerous sharks:
Third on the list is the Tiger Shark, who has a total of 155 attacks on human beings. Of these, 88 attacks were considered unprovoked and 28 people died. Here, the definition of a provoked attack is if a person stepped on a shark, pulled its tail, was trying to kill it or feed it. Unprovoked means that the person did not knowingly provoke the shark. The shark was not trying to specifically harm a human being, but was, in most cases, startled or curious. In fact, most sharks bite out of curiosity and let go when they realize this thing in the water is not normal food for them.
The Tiger Shark, for example, swallows just about anything that comes in its path. This is the shark whose stomachs have been known to contain all kinds of garbage, including pipes, license plates, paint cans--even an African drum. A Tiger Shark that was caught live and taken to an aquarium threw up a human arm with a tattoo. It is believed the person this arm belonged to was not killed by a shark at all but by humans and then cut up or vice-versa.
The second most dangerous shark is the Bull Shark. According to the ISAF, they have been identified as attacking 110 people. Among these, 77 were unprovoked attacks and 23 people died as a result. Bull sharks are put ahead of the Tiger Shark in the ratings of dangerous sharks because scientists believe that many more people are actually attacked by Bull Sharks but the blame was given to the Great White Shark instead. This is even true of the case from 1916 on which the movie, JAWS, was based. Many people are unable to tell one shark from another and the Great White gets the credit because it is the most well-known of the sharks.
That puts the Great White Shark in the number one spot as the most dangerous shark in the world. Records indicate they are responsible for attacking 437 people. Of these, 237 were unprovoked and there were 64 people killed. Scientists believe, that for the most part, the shark either thinks what it senses is a fish or it is just curious. Great White Sharks do not intentionally prey on human beings nor do any other sharks.
There are dangerous sharks just because any creature that weighs thousands of pounds and has hundreds of sharp teeth is dangerous to a human being or any other creature with which it comes in contact. Peter Benchley, the author of the book on which the film JAWS was based, said in a Time magazine interview in 2000 that if when he wrote the book he knew what he now knows about sharks, he would never have written it. Sharks would much rather eat a sea lion than a human being.