How do You Survive a Shark Attack?

Every week, the Wonder Newsroom asks our community to pose questions on topics confronting our world today.

Believed to have been around for more than 400 million years, or 170 million years before the dinosaurs, the depiction of sharks as merciless killing machines and a threat to human only arose as recently as 1975 with the release of Jaws, leading to a steep decline in shark populations of >70% over the past 47 years.

With hundreds of known species alive today, only 13 species have ever bitten humans 10 or more confirmed times.

And yet, their bad rap has this entire subclass of fish in danger of going extinct due to human impact and overfishing. threatening the balance of the ocean’s fragile food chain.

Last week, the Wonder Newsroom set out to answer our network’s toughest questions about these weird and wonderful creatures to uncover the truth about what's really swimming below the surface.

#SHARKWEEK, BY THE NUMBERS:

73 alleged cases of unprovoked shark attacks in 2021, globally.
38% of all unprovoked shark bites in the world occurred in Florida, USA in 2021, with 28 confirmed cases.
548 known shark species on Earth today.
143 of these known shark species are under threat of extinction.