# shark attacks and the femoral arteory **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 10, 2001, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shark-attacks-and-the-femoral-arteory/80719 "2001-09-10T18:53:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![funguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/58f4c7/32.png) [@funguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/funguy)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2001, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shark-attacks-and-the-femoral-arteory/80719/1 "2001-09-10T18:53:21Z")
is it a coincidence or does it seem that the majority of the attacks occur on or near the femoral? ---
**Author:** ![Syzygy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Syzygy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Syzygy)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2001, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shark-attacks-and-the-femoral-arteory/80719/2 "2001-09-10T18:58:01Z")
The kicking of a swimmer draws sharks (or so I’ve heard), and the leg’s a good grabbing point, so that’s the focal point of many shark attacks. And the femoral artery is the biggest artery in the legs, so it’s a good bet that a shark will sever it, given a vicious enough attack. ---
**Author:** ![Phlosphr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Phlosphr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phlosphr)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2001, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shark-attacks-and-the-femoral-arteory/80719/3 "2001-09-10T19:08:22Z")
Funguy, what exactly do you mean by it being some kind of coincidence? What kind of coincidence are you talking about that would involve a shark attack and the femoral artery? The femoral artery is on the inside of the thigh and continues down. when a shark attacks it is USUALLY from below. and there is usually a high percentage of tissue loss. But a do not see a coincidence. I think you may be asking why is there a high \*\* PROBABILITY \*\* that the femoral artery is always hit. I am no expert but I would say that has to do with the speed at which the shark was traveling , the angle the shark took to bite you and of course the, the size of the shark… ---
**Author:** ![Phlosphr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Phlosphr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phlosphr)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2001, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shark-attacks-and-the-femoral-arteory/80719/4 "2001-09-10T19:10:18Z")
damn I should have previewed. Sorry about the spelling and other assorted errors, but I’m posting and working here 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2001, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shark-attacks-and-the-femoral-arteory/80719/5 "2001-09-11T02:47:30Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Phlosphr \* > **Funguy, what exactly do you mean by it being some kind of coincidence? What kind of coincidence are you talking about that would involve a shark attack and the femoral artery** Not that funguy can’t speak on his own behalf, but I think he meant, “Is this a coincidence, or do the sharks deliberately go for the femoral artery?” The sharks don’t know jack about human anatomy, they normally don’t repeatedly attack a person once they figured out what they’re dealing with. Legs just happen to be handy things to grab and when you have a mouth that big you can hardly miss. ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2001, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shark-attacks-and-the-femoral-arteory/80719/6 "2001-09-11T03:43:44Z")
Bullfighters are very often gored right there too… ---
**Author:** ![Yeah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/dbc845/32.png) [@Yeah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yeah)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2001, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shark-attacks-and-the-femoral-arteory/80719/7 "2001-09-11T04:18:30Z")
“is it a coincidence or does it seem that the majority of the attacks occur on or near the femoral?” Are the majority of attack on or near the femoral artery? I don’t think so. I think most are lower on the leg. I can tell you one thing though, a person has a much better chance of surviving a severe bite to a lower leg or arm or even loss of a lower leg or arm than they do of surviving a puncture of a femoral artery. The femoral artery is big and high pressure and you can bleed out through it in minutes. The blood doesn’t even have to leave your body; it can just flow through a puncture into the tissues of your leg until you die. In addition, it can be harder to stop a leak in a femoral artery than in an artery lower in the leg or in the arm because the femoral artery is deep and is also hard to get a tourniquet around. So I doubt that shark bites that injure femoral arteries are a large percentage of all shark bites BUT they may well be a large percentage of all FATAL shark bites.