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Two people were recently killed in separate shark attacks , but how common is this ?
The first attack pass when a surfer , a 56 - yr - onetime Hawaiian human being was paddling in Honolua Bay on Dec. 8 , according to theHawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources . In the 2d attack on Dec. 10 , a 38 - twelvemonth - old womanhood die after a shark tore off her wooden leg 500 foot ( 150 cadence ) from the shoring at a popular beach in St. Martin in the eastern Caribbean , according to The Associated Press .
A great white shark swimming in the ocean.
But while it may seem ominous that two deadly attacks happened in such a short time span , shark fire are quite rare , statistic show .
Gavin Naylor , programme managing director of the University of Florida ’s International Shark Attack File ( ISAF ) , told the Associated Press that he was surprised about the attack in St. Martin . " It ’s middling unusual in that part of the globe , " Naylor aver .
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How unusual is this?
There have been 78 shark attacks in 2020 so far and a total of 12 relate fatalities , according to Tracking Sharks , a web site that hosts information on shark attacks around the world .
Thirty - six of the flack — three of them fatal — were reported in the United States , more than in any other nation . Florida has the most record shark attacks this year with 23 .
These numbers may look high at a glimpse but it is of import to put them in perspective . " The total figure of wanton shark attacks worldwide is extremely low , given the bit of people enter in aquatic diversion each yr , " according to theISAF website .
During an average someone ’s lifetime , their odds of being killed in a shark flack are about 1 in 3.75 million , compared with , say , dying from in a car fortuity , where the odds are 1 in 84 , according to the ISAF . And this year , the act of shark attacks fell dramatically because ofcoronaviruslockdowns , according to ISAF , with far-flung quarantines and many beaches close . That realize signified , as the number of human - shark interactions is extremely correlated with the time humans spend in the sea , according to the ISAF .
While 2020 may prove to be an exception , the trend in shark attacks has been jump in late age as the human population grows and more people engage in aquatic recreational activity , allot to ISAF .
" They ’re just animals living in their environment — we ’re the invaders , " George H. Burgess , former director of the ISAF , previously recite Live Science . The ISAF maintains the comparative risk of being attacked by a shark is still " very small , " but they dopublish guidanceon how you’re able to limit your chances of being bite in the water system . These include tips such as swimming with another person , stay close to the shoring and do n’t swim at dawn or dusk .
As apex predator , shark play an important role in the ecosystem . By predate on fish , they help keep populations healthy and at a sizing the habitat ’s resources can support , Live Science antecedently report .
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And even the biggest shark can become fair game themselves . Orcas , for example , have been love tohunt great whitened sharksand eat their liver ; and sea Leo the Lion routinely huntleopard sharksoff the coast of California , Live Science previously reported .
Meanwhile , human bodily process are do shark telephone number to dwindle down . allot to the ISAF , most populations are either falling or exist at greatly reduced stratum due to overfishing and habitat loss .
Originally published on Live Science .
