How dangerous are sharks?
Sharks are usually very wary of people and most sharks will swim away long before you see them. There are nearly 500 species of sharks but only a few are likely to be involved in an attack. Some of the more dangerous sharks include the Great White Shark, the Tiger Shark, and the Bull Shark. Sharks do not normally treat humans as food. If they did, it would be very easy for them to eat all of the people who play in the water at the beach because they are much better swimmers than we are. Most scientists agree that attacks are usually the result of mistaken identity or the sharks feeling threatened because they are cornered. In places like California where there are a lot of White Shark attacks on surfers, scientists believe that the sharks think that the surfers look like seals or sea lions.
