People have strong feelings about animals. When asked which creatures they fear the most, respondents will often point to spiders, snakes, crocodiles and large furry carnivores like lions, tigers and bears. And all too often, sharks sit at the top of the fear list. But sharks are getting a bad rap. They rarely attack humans, averaging around 64 bites a year worldwide, with fatalities in the single digits.
Lions, elephants and hippos pose greater threats, with hippos killing more than 500 people a year. And like these other keystone species, sharks do good deeds, helping keep prey populations in check and thus supporting the ocean’s health.
Our fear of sharks is not benign, freelance journalist Brianna Randall writes. Researchers say it contributes to a lack of concern about the rapid declines in shark populations worldwide — declines that are largely driven by human actions such as overfishing. Conservationists are working to change sharks’ image in the hopes that humans will learn to love these essential predators before it’s too late.
While we’re talking about animals we revile, consider ticks. They also end up near the top of humans’ most-hated critters list, though they spark disgust more than fear. The teeny arachnids spread a number of diseases, some of which, including Rocky Mountain spotted fever and Powassan virus disease, can be fatal. And as senior writer Meghan Rosen reports, they’re increasingly sparking a severe allergic reaction that kicks in after a person eats red meat.
Tickborne diseases in humans have more than doubled in the United States in the last two decades, driven in part by rising heat and humidity, which help ticks thrive. There are various treatments but so far no way to prevent infection other than wearing protective clothing, applying repellents and staying out of areas where ticks abound, including brush and grassy areas.
And let’s not forget fungi. In the hit series The Last of Us, fungi turn people into zombies. We needn’t fear zombification, senior molecular biology writer Tina Hesman Saey reports, but climate change is making dangerous infections like valley fever more common.
Given the choice, I’d rather spend a day with a shark than a tick. Maybe I’m picking up on director Steven Spielberg’s professed regret at making the shark the villain in his blockbuster Jaws, which turns 50 this year. How about next time, the shark plays the hero?