Are sharks dedicated man eaters or just scavengers?

Question

Sharks are attracted to blood, splashing, and abnormal noises. It seems like their purpose is to eat the wounded and sick of the sea. When people swim they tend to splash and could easily be confused as a fish in distress. It is always portrayed that sharks are deadly hunters, and I'm always hearing about shark attacks in beaches they arent supposed to be in though. Even professional divers who seem to be moving smoothly have been victms of shark attacks.

Answer 1

Divers are probably attacked because the shark mistakes them for a seal. After biting, the shark often recognizes its mistake and just spits the diver out and swims away, but by then the damage is done.

Answer 2

Hmmm ... Do sharks go out of their way to eat man?  Outside of a RARE occasion, the answer is an emphatic no!  Right off the bat, looking at a large shark's diet, you can see that they prefer far fattier animals to eat (humans in comparison are too lean for them).  When it comes to biting, there are two general reasons why they bite humans:

1) Misidentification:  we are mistaken for a more satisfactory meal target (ex. surfers looking like seals, inner tubers looking like sea turtles).  Splashing can also make a shark think there is a distressed prey animal in the area (and thus an easy target).  

2) Curiosity & Investigation:  unlike people that are able to use their hands, sharks will use their mouths to feel or examine a particular object.  

Sharks are top-tier predators with a wide array of senses that would make any human hunter insanely jealous.  Imagine being able to smell one part blood in a few hundred million parts water.  Think about being able to track a prey animal by vibration (crucial in low-light environments).  Along with a good sense of sight and strong hearing, they can also detect electrical fields (ampullae of lorenzini), which makes it nearly impossible for animals to hide by burrowing under the sand.  Even though sharks possess a wide array of sensory equipment, they will also scavenge if it advantageous to their survival (I just watched on several occasions how a school of blacktip sharks would come by a shrimping boat and feed off of the bycatch dumped from the deck ... it is easier than hunting for your food).

Regardless of the number of times that sharks have attacked people, there are fewer deaths on average by shark yearly (<10) as compared to deer (~100), lightning (~100), bees (~500), or even mosquitoes (~1,000,000). However, due to media buildup, overhype, and vilification of these animals, and you have a man-eating menace on your hands.  I am not saying that you should go out and hug a shark when you are out swimming in open water.  You should and must be careful at all times if a shark is potentially in the area since it is a wild animal, but that is a true statement for ANY wild animal.

Sharks are impressive hunters as well as strong scavengers that help to maintain and regulate the oceanic ecosystem.  Humans are not part of their dietary regimen.  Any attack happens on their turf (ever hear of a shark attack at a Wal-Mart parking lot?), but often times it is the person who either attracts the shark (inadvertently) or goes into an area unprepared or at an inopportune time (there are other factors I could talk about but do not want to take up more space at this time).

Answer 3

I think it boils down to this:

If the shark is hungry, and you look like a possible food source, it might try a bite. The hungrier the shark, the farther it might go from its "normal" food source.

Also, if the shark feels threatened it might bite defensively.

Replace shark with "bear", "alligator", "wolf", "lion"...all predators work very similarly.

Answer 4

You missed shark week on the discovery channel. Thats all they talked about. Check out their website- discoverychannel.com

Answer 5

Sharks are not dedicated man eaters. The only reason we are attacked by them is

A. We look like what they eat.

B. We are in their territory.