Misplaced fear? Sharks slandered by cinema, inspiring future scientists (2024)

Misplaced fear? Sharks slandered by cinema, inspiring future scientists (1)

A tiger shark swims alone in the Bahamas.

Courtesy Gerald Schömbs on Unsplash

Human fear of sharks has deep roots. Written works and art from the ancient world contain references tosharks preying on sailorsas early as the eighth century B.C.E.

Relayed back to land, stories about shark encounters have beenembellished and amplified. Together with the fact that from time to time – very rarely – sharks bite humans, people have been primed for centuries to imagine terrifying situations at sea.

In 1974, Peter Benchley’sbestselling novel “Jaws”fanned this fear into a wildfire that spread around the world. The book sold more than 5 million copies in the U.S. within a year and was quickly followed bySteven Spielberg’s 1975 movie, which became the highest-grossing film in history at that time. Virtually all audiences embraced the idea, depicted vividly in the movie and its sequels, that sharks were malevolent, vindictive creatures that prowled coastal waters seeking to feed on unsuspecting bathers.

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Misplaced fear? Sharks slandered by cinema, inspiring future scientists (2)

But “Jaws” also spawned widespread interest in better understanding sharks.

Previously, shark research had largely been the esoteric domain of a handful of academic specialists. Thanks to interest sparked by “Jaws,” we now know that there are many more kinds of sharks than scientists were aware of in 1974, and that sharks do more interesting things than researchers ever anticipated. Benchley himself became an avidspokesman for shark protection and marine conservation.

In my own 30-year career studyingsharks and their close relatives, skates and rays, I’ve seen attitudes evolve and interest in understanding sharks expand enormously. Here’s how things have changed.

Swimming into the spotlight

Before the mid-1970s, much of what was known about sharks came via people who went to sea. In 1958, the U.S. Navy established theInternational Shark Attack File– the world’s only scientifically documented, comprehensive database of all known shark attacks – to reduce wartime risks to sailors stranded at sea when their ships sank.

Today the file is managed by theFlorida Museum of Natural Historyand theAmerican Elasmobranch Society, a professional organization for shark researchers. It works to inform the public about shark-human interactions and ways to reduce the risk of shark bites.

In 1962,Jack Casey, a pioneer of modern shark research, initiated theCooperative Shark Tagging Program. This initiative, which is still running today, relied on Atlantic commercial fishermen to report and return tags they found on sharks, so that government scientists could calculate how far the sharks had moved after being tagged.

After “Jaws,” shark research quickly went mainstream. The American Elasmobranch Society was founded in 1982. Graduate students lined up to study shark behavior, and the number of published shark studiessharply increased.

Field research on sharks expanded in parallel with growing interest in extreme outdoor sports like surfing, parasailing and scuba diving. Electronic tags enabled researchers to monitor sharks’ movements in real time. DNA sequencing technologies provided cost-effective ways to determine how different species were related to one another, what they were eating and how populations were structured.

This interest also had a sensational side, embodied in the Discovery Channel’s launch in 1988 ofShark Week. This annual block of programming, ostensibly designed to educate the public about shark biology and counter negative publicity about sharks, was a commercial venture that exploited the tension between people’s deep-seated fear of sharks and their yearning to understand what made these animals tick.

Shark Week featured made-for-TV stories that focused onfictional scientific research projects. It was wildly successful and remains so today, in spite of critiques from some researchers who call it a major source ofmisinformation about sharks and shark science.

Physical, social and genetic insights

Contrary to the long-held notion that sharks are mindless killers, they exhibit a wide range of traits and behavior. For example, the velvet belly lantern shark communicates through flashes of light fromorgans on the sides of its body. Female hammerhead sharks canclone perfect replicas of themselveswithout male sperm.

Sharks have the most sensitive electrical detectors thus far discovered in the natural world – networks of pores and nerves in their heads, known asampullae of Lorenzini, after Italian scientist Stefano Lorenzini, who first described these features in the 17th century. Sharks use these networks to navigate in the open ocean, using Earth’smagnetic field for orientation.

Another intriguing discovery is that some shark species, including makos and blue sharks,segregate by both sex and size. Among these species, cohorts of males and females of different sizes are often found in distinct groups. This finding suggests that some sharks may havesocial hierarchies, like those seen in some primates and hoofed mammals.

Genetic studies have helped researchers explore questions such as why some sharks haveheads shaped like hammers or shovels. They also show that sharks have thelowest mutation rate of any vertebrate animal. This is notable because mutations are the raw material for evolution: The higher the mutation rate, the better a species can adapt to environmental change.

However, sharks have been around for 400 million years and have been through some of the most extreme environmental changes on earth. It’s not known yet how they have persisted so successfully with such a low mutation rate.

The marquee species

White sharks, the focal species of “Jaws,” attract enormous public interest, although much about them is still unknown. They can live to age 70, and they routinely swim thousands of miles every year. Those in the Western North Atlantic tend to move north-south between Canada and the Gulf of Mexico; white sharks on the U.S. west coast move east-west between California and the Central Pacific.

Misplaced fear? Sharks slandered by cinema, inspiring future scientists (4)

We now know that juvenile white sharks feed almost exclusively on fishes and stingrays, and don’t start incorporating seals and other marine mammals into their diets until they are the equivalent of teenagers and have grown to about 12 feet long. Most confirmed white shark bites on humans seem to be by animals that are between 12 and 15 feet long. This supports the theory that almost all bites by white sharks on humans are cases ofmistaken identity, where humans resemble the seals that sharks prey on.

Still in the water

Although “Jaws” had awidespread cultural impact, it didn’t keep surfers and bathers from enjoying the ocean.

Data from the International Shark Attack File on confirmed unprovoked bites by white sharks from the 1960s to the present day shows a continuous increase, although the number of incidents yearly is quite low. This pattern is consistent with growing numbers of peoplepursuing recreational activities at the coasts.

Around the world, there have been 363confirmed, unprovoked bites by white sharkssince 1960. Of these, 73 were fatal. The World Health Organization estimates that there are236,000 deaths yearly due to drowning, which translates to around 15 million drowning deaths over the same time period.

In other words, people are roughly 200,000 times more likely to drown than to die from a white shark bite. Indeed, surfers are more likely to die in a car crash on the way to the beach than they are to be bitten by a shark.

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Tags: International Shark Attack File Jack Casey Jaws Peter Benchley Steven Spielberg World Health Organization

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Misplaced fear? Sharks slandered by cinema, inspiring future scientists (7)

FollowTheScience

1 day ago

Thank you for this interesting article.

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Misplaced fear? Sharks slandered by cinema, inspiring future scientists (2024)

FAQs

What caused the fear of sharks? ›

By his own admission and with considerable regret, Peter Benchley has a lot to do with our fear of sharks. The fiction author's hugely successful book Jaws and the resulting 1975 blockbuster movie instilled a deep fear of sharks in people across the world.

Did Jaws make people afraid of sharks? ›

"This is called the 'The Jaws Effect' -- a known phenomenon where people are excessively and irrationally scared of sharks -- today, nearly 50 years after the first Jaws movie, it still influences people's perceptions of sharks, impacts conservation efforts, and affects policy decisions.

Why we shouldn't be afraid of sharks? ›

There are over 400 species of sharks, but only 30 have been known to attack humans. The rest, including the whale shark, the largest shark on the planet, are completely harmless. 2. CSULB researchers estimate there's a one in 300 million chance of being killed by a shark (bees and lightning strikes are more lethal).

How many Americans are afraid of sharks? ›

Key insights from the survey, which ranked 97 fears among 1,014 Americans, include: 30.1% of Americans are scared or very scared of sharks, ranking 52nd overall. Fear of sharks surpasses that of public speaking (28.7%), reptiles (25.9%), and insects/spiders (25.3%).

Are humans naturally afraid of sharks? ›

There is thought to be an evolutionary basis for galeophobia, particularly because humans evolved to avoid predators to maximise survival. The water posed multiple risks to our ancestors, particularly because of the risk of drowning and the risk from predators, such as sharks.

Can sharks sense fear in you? ›

There is no scientific evidence that sharks can smell fear in humans or any other animal. However, when near sharks in the water, it is wise that you do not panic as sharks can detect the heartbeat of their prey.

What is sharks biggest fear? ›

Sharks and dolphins are two of the most formidable creatures in the ocean, but while sharks are often seen as fearsome predators, they are known to be intimidated by dolphins.

Did the creator of Jaws regret making it? ›

Both the author of Jaws, Peter Benchley, and the director, Steven Spielberg, regret the negative impact the film had on shark populations and the perpetuation of shark stereotypes.

Were any sharks killed in the making of Jaws? ›

Did they kill a real shark in Jaws? No. The shark in the book was 25′ but the one in the movie was a 16′ mechanical shark that malfunctioned so frequently it altered the way the movie was filmed.

Why should you not touch a shark? ›

Swimming alongside a whale shark is fine however touching them will damage the protective mucus layer that protects the animal against bacteria and parasites, can disrupt their natural behaviour and cause them stress.

Why are surfers not afraid of sharks? ›

Research has found people high in sensation-seeking, which is the tendency for people to pursue thrill-seeking experiences, view the risks of sharks as lower. It is plausible that many surfers are high on sensation-seeking, which may help explain why they perceive the risk of sharks to be low.

Why sharks should not be killed? ›

Sharks are apex predators and play a vital role in maintaining marine ecosystems. Without them, marine animals and habitats would suffer. Shark finning is unsustainable. Not only do humans decimate shark populations, but sharks have low reproductive rates, making repopulation difficult.

What state in the US has the most sharks? ›

Florida is known as the "shark attack capital of the world" and accounts for more than half of the total shark attacks in the United States each year.

Are 90% of sharks gone? ›

Scientists say 90% of the world's open-ocean sharks died off in mystery extinction event 19 million years ago. The silhouette of a shark composed of fossil shark dermal denticles described in the study. About 19 million years ago, roughly 90% of the world's open-ocean sharks died off, and scientists don't know why.

Are sharks becoming overpopulated? ›

Are sharks overpopulated? Absolutely not. About 1/3 of sharks in the world are now at risk because of overfishing. They are decreasing in number every year, worldwide.

What triggers fear of the ocean? ›

Many things can trigger thalassophobia, such as coming in contact with or thinking about the ocean, lakes, boats, swimming, scuba diving, submarines, sea creatures, or photographs and movies about anything stated. Others may not be afraid of what is inside but may be afraid of the emptiness of the ocean.

What made Jaws so scary? ›

The idea of a shark attacking you while you're enjoying yourself in the water is perhaps the scariest thing you can imagine,” said the professor and head of film studies at Oakland University. Animatronics at that time was nowhere near what it's become today.

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