Most folks can’t tread water very long, especially not if it’s cold. AFAIK, sharks aren’t big on eating already-dead prey.
So I bet the usual story is more like: Fall overboard. If a shark wanders by in within 15 minutes in warm water or 5 in cold, you *might *get eaten if the shark is in the mood. If the shark’s disinterested or late to the party you drown and/or hypothermia out then your body is eaten by scavengers.
So my conclusion is that in most waters in most cases, “eaten by shark” is by far the minority outcome.
Sharks, including Great Whites and Tiger Sharks, will eat pretty much anything, including carrion. I think a large number of people who drown at sea would end up eaten by sharks.
I saw a youtube video last week showing some of the victims and their final shots. A few seemed like normal accidents of getting to close to the edge of a cliff, but I suspect most don’t mention drugs and alcohol because of the victims age.
When I heard them start talking about this on the radio, I figured the numbers would be shocking, that something like 8,000 people a year were killed stumbling off cliffs taking selfies, while shark attacks would be half a dozen or whatever.
But actually it was 12 to 8. Which is basically meaningless. It’s like saying “the number of people killed accidentally falling into a vat of chocolate is greater than the number of people named Pete who were killed by Cape buffalo.”
And anyway, I really don’t believe the number of people killed by sharks is only eight; as has been pointed out that relies on someone witnessing the victim being eaten. In all likelihood, it’s higher, but “missing at sea” doesn’t distinguish between drowning and being eaten by a shark. Australia probably has a shark death a minute; the main reason Australia doesn’t have a larger population is that thousands of Australians every day are killed by spiders, snakes, sharks, jellyfish, dingoes, and crocodiles. They artificially hold the numbers down to not scare tourists away but you chances of survival there are terrible.
I didn’t say otherwise. I haven’t been able to find figures on it, but say, for the sake of discussion, that about 1000 people go missing at sea (or along coasts in such a way that they were presumably lost in the water). If 1% of those were attacked by sharks, that’s 10–a tiny minority, but more than the total number of documented shark attacks. It would also put the number of shark attack fatalities ahead of selfie-destructive acts.
My point is just that, with such small numbers and a reasonable potential for undocumented cases of either type of event, the comparison is meaningless.
Sorry I missed your point the first time. My fault for shoddy reading. Agree completely with your restatement.
Reminds me of those ultra-situational baseball statistics. “… Well Bob, he’s batting lifetime 1.000 in situations like this: Count is 3-1, 2 out, men on the corners, in the 7th inning, at home, and against pitchers whose name starts with G. So I bet we’re gonna see some fireworks here.” And if the batter whiffs, next time the stat will be “… and where the pitcher wears an *even *number.”
“Because nobody would come save me if I yelled “chocolate!””
Vat of chocolate - smothers brothers lyrics? - Answers
The Smothers Brothers obviously didn’t know the women I know. They might come to help if you yelled “Fire!”, but they’d DEFINITELY come if you yelled “Chocolate!”
