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Sharks are actually friendly - 29th March 2024

Since the 1970s film, Jaws, people have seen sharks as scary. This is especially true in Florida. It's the shark bite capital of the world.

Around a quarter of the world's shark bites happen near Florida's coast. This sounds scary. But, in fact, it's only 16 out of 69 attacks a year.

It's a very small number out of the millions of swimmers in Florida. Last year, 135 million tourists swam there.

Scientists who work at the Florida Program for Shark Research are using education to change people's ideas about sharks. Florida has huge numbers of sharks and swimmers. Sharks could easily attack people for food, but they don't, explains Gavin Naylor, the programme director.

Gavin Naylor: "So, the sharks are trying to avoid people. We know that they must be doing because there are so many of them and so many people. And people are very easy to, to target. They are a little bit like floating sausages if you're a shark."

Naylor believes that when sharks bite, it's not on purpose.

Gavin Naylor: "So there are a lot of people in the water and a lot of sharks in the water. The sharks are targeting the fishes that they normally feed on. But once in a while, people get in the way, and the sharks make a mistake, and they bite the people.”

There's been a big decrease in the world's shark numbers. There were 70 percent more sharks in 1970 than there were in 2021. This is mainly because of overfishing.

Because people think they're scary, sharks aren't well protected like dolphins and whales. Jonathan Campbell, who's a shark diving guide, believes people should get close to them. After that, they realise that sharks are quite friendly.

Jonathan Campbell: "When they come up after that first dive, uh, they're excited. And you can see that they're in shock. They're changed by what they saw because they see sharks on TV, they see sharks on movies, and they're these scary monsters. And in the water, they are actually shy puppy dogs."