Does the thought of sharks send shivers up your spine? Why do we feel this way? Nat Geo Explores recently published this episode on the origin of our fear of sharks, featuring Jess Cramp and Sharks Pacific.Nat Geo Explores breaks down the worlds of Science, History, and Animals. In each episode, scientists and historians explain in fascinating detail everything from the connection between germs and diseases to how anxiety impacts our brains.
Seeing a shark can be pretty scary. It’s okay to admit that. Sharks are some of the ocean’s most powerful predators. And yes, they do occasionally bite humans that enter their habitat. However, the notion that sharks are the vengeful, human-eating beasts that we see in the movies couldn’t be farther from the truth. On the contrary, an estimated 100 million sharks are killed by humans each year, putting a number of species on the brink of extinction. While we often villainize them in our stories, sharks may actually have more reasons to fear us.
