Sharks attacks against people are not always what they look like, scientists say

Sharks may not be as responsible for rare human bites as we have imagined. In a study published today, scientists claim that at least some shark bites should be considered a form of self -defense.

Marine biologists from France guided the study, published within the limits in the science of conservation. After analyzing the data from the bite of sharks from around the world, they estimated that about 5% of human shark bites were completely protective rather than sharks trying to capture their next food. The findings should help inform the efforts to prevent shark bites, the researchers say.

Leading researcher Eric Kloa, a shark specialist at PSL, was inspired to examine the topic through the observations he did during his field research in French Polynesia.

He often heard about fishermen who systematically kill sharks who have involuntarily trapped in the fish pens. These sharks sometimes bite fishermen if they were initially unsuccessful in killing the animal. He also hears reports of casual shark bites of underwater copies, where the sharks seem to attack only because they wanted the fisherman to stay away from his prey.

“With a closer consideration, the opportunity to model this self-defense mechanism described in the study, which insists on human, not the responsibility of the sharks in this type of accident,” Cloa told Gizmodo in an email.

First, the researchers analyzed data from recorded shark bites in French Polynesia – more special incidents that contain at least some information about the possible motivation behind the bite. Between 2009 and 2023, 74 such shark bites were documented in the area. Four of these bites, 5% of the total, were probably motivated by self -defense, researchers found.

Then Kloa and his team viewed data from Global shark attack fileswho has documented nearly 7,000 shark bites since 1863. They examined bites classified as provoked, including people placed in close proximity to sharks. Once again, about 5% of the bites that have studied-322 bites in general-they have given the criteria for self-defense.

These criteria include sharks that bite immediately after human action, which is or can be perceived as aggressive and bites are repeated but leaves superficial, non-first-ranked wounds. It is paradoxical that a defensive shark bites can also be disproportionately violent compared to the human action that precedes it, such as a sinewy shark, an aggressively bitten man trying to bring it back to the water. But this disproportionality can simply be a sign of the despair of the shark to survive at all costs, according to KLUA.

“The results of this study show that sharks have as much right as any animal or person to protect themselves when their survival is at risk,” he said. “They also show that, contrasting, it is advisable not to flow to a shark risk, as this is not necessarily positively perceived by this human action and can react aggressively.”

By revealing the many motivations behind shark bites, the team hopes to prevent them from happening in the first place. People should not interact or approach sharks, for example, even if they look harmless or look in danger. And overall you should be in groups of at least two people when swimming in places where sharks live, which can reduce the risk of a prolonged predatory attack. Unlike some of the land predators, it adds Kloa, remaining stationary will no Turn off a predatory attack shark from attack, so you should always try to protect yourself if the worst scenario happens.

At the same time, researchers note that sharks are usually afraid of people. As a result, shark bites are very rare and even less fatal than other interactions between people-people.

There were only 88 shark bites Recorded worldwide in 2024 And seven related deaths, for example. As opposed to this, Evaluation are evaluated To attack at least 500 people a year, and the number of mortality becomes even more distorted when you take into account the diseases distributed by certain animals (Mosquito Bonne malaria He only kills over half a million people every year). So, while it is important to practice good water safety that may contain sharks, people (reporters included) should also not transfer the risk of being bitten by them first.

“In addition to reducing the number of such bites in this area, we hope that one of the main effects of our study will be to change the vision and attitude of journalists, assuming that they look more closely at the conditions in which bites appear without systematically blaming animals, and more recently to do people.”

The team plans to continue to study other types of shark bites, such as research bites where sharks can bite people to see if they are a suitable prey.