2015 marks the 40th anniversary of Jaws. Yes you read that correctly! It’s been 40 years since ‘you thought it was safe to get back in the water’. In those 40 years, and partially as a consequence of that very film, sharks have caught a bit of a bad rap. But are they as dangerous as the film makes out?
OnePoll conducted a survey of 2000 UK adults to find out the public’s perceptions of sharks and to dispel common misconceptions surrounding them. We’ve also taken a look at things more likely to kill you than sharks.
Our survey found that sharks are a largely unpopular species with 39% of UK adults stating that they hate sharks, while just 1 in 10 people stated that they love them.
Here are the top 3 reasons people who don’t like sharks gave for disliking them:
- They are dangerous (63%)
- They are scared of them (51%)
- They attack humans (42%)
Some people stated that they feel sharks are ‘aggressive’, ‘intimidating or sinister’. Others went further and slightly more extreme by suggesting they should be killed!
Despite the large amount of negativity towards them, some people did express positive feelings towards them referring to sharks as ‘majestic’ and ‘fascinating’. Others claimed that they are ‘beautiful and misunderstood’.
shark attacks
Much of this misunderstanding centres around shark attacks.
When asked how many unprovoked shark attacks there were last year (2014), 28% of people over-estimated guessing between 76 and 501, yet there were actually only 72 unprovoked shark attacks worldwide that year. Only 3 of these were fatal yet 3 in 5 respondents (60.9%) over-estimated how many people are killed every year, guessing approximately 19 deaths per year.
sharks vs everything else
In reality you are statistically more likely to die from the following things:
Selfies. 87% of people don’t know that you’re more likely to die from taking a selfie than being killed by a shark. There have been 19 selfie deaths since 2014
Coconuts. 80% of people don’t realise that falling coconuts have been claimed to kill around 150 people a year – much more than sharks!
Mosquitos. Only half of people knew that mosquitos kill more people than sharks – mosquitos result in the deaths of over 800,000 people a year!
Other notable things that are more likely (on average) to kill humans include falling icicles, champagne corks (24 people a year), cows (20 a year in the US alone), falling out of bed (450 a year in the US alone), and Christmas trees!
TheDodo.com also published an article listing other things that cause more deaths than sharks, some of which are quite unexpected. It also features some pretty decent shark gifs.
Shockingly, we kill around 100 million sharks a year yet only 2% of UK adults were aware of this.
misconceptions surrounding sharks
But the public’s misunderstanding or lack of knowledge goes further than just shark attacks.
Only 1 in 10 people knew that rays are closely related to sharks for example. Sharks are also closely related to chimaeras, which include the ratfish, Less than 1% of people knew this. Over 1 in 5 UK adults also wrongly think that sharks are related to dolphins! Dolphins are mammals, whereas sharks are fish.
People also don’t realise how diverse sharks are, with UK adults estimating 140 species. There are actually over 400 discovered species of shark, ranging in sizes and behaviours. Furthermore, almost 4 in 5 people don’t realise that over 50% of discovered shark species are less than a metre long. The smallest shark can be as small as just 16cm long…that’s not very scary now is it?
There are a lot of misconceptions about great white sharks in particular. The table below shows the top 5 most commonly held beliefs… and the real facts:
| Misconception | True or False | Fact |
| Great white sharks have bad eyesight | FALSE | Great white sharks have great vision but only 14% of people knew this |
| Great white sharks confused us with seals or sea lions and that is why they attack us | FALSE | Sharks are simply curious creatures who bite anything they are interested in or anything that is in their way. Again only 14% knew this. |
| Great white sharks like to eat humans | FALSE | Great white sharks actually spit us out if they bite us, we’re too bony! They also have extremely slow digestive tracts so they have a specific diet and human’s aren’t on the menu. Less than 50% of people knew this |
| Sharks are primitive and not particularly intelligent | FALSE | Sharks are an intelligent species with one of the biggest brains amongst fish. 1 in 5 UK adults knew this. |
Other things people didn’t know about sharks:
Only ¼ of UK adults know that sharks can not only hear fish that are injured due to a sound they release, but they are also able to track prey by listening to their heartbeats.
65% of UK adults didn’t know that sharks can detect electric fields – they do this using a specialised organ, the ampullae of Lorenzini… quite a mouthful.
Less than 40% of respondents knew that some species of sharks have ‘friends’ – a small fish, called remora fish, who help sharks out by feeding on parasites on its body. This keeps the shark clean and the remora well fed!
So, essentially, although it is sensible to be aware of sharks and follow advice to avoid attacks, sharks really aren’t the violent, blood thirsty creatures they are made out to be. They are simply curious, amazing animals which have been misunderstood, but remember most of them really are more afraid of us!
