Sealife Sunday #1: It's actually pretty safe to go back in the water

NB: Farmyard Fridays is on hiatus this week, largely because Bullen was too busy praying for no snow to remember to post a fact. Next week's will therefore be bigger, better and have more cute pictures to make up for this.
NB2: Sealife Sundays may or may not become a regular feature.

This story caught my eye whilst scrolling through the Mail's Sidebar of Shame this week. Journalistically speaking, it's cracking: sharks now apparently have fangs and the pictures do almost nothing to illustrate the article, but it does demonstrate the general opinion of sharks. The comments tend to take the viewpoint that if you get into the water with a shark, you're asking for trouble, and this is something anybody who's seen Jaws probably agrees with. Common sense says that, like putting your head inside a lion's mouth, swimming with sharks is probably not the wisest thing to do.

It is, however, not such a stupid thing to do as all that, at least statistically speaking. Admittedly, the likelihood of bumping into a shark on a regular basis is probably infinitesimal for most people, so the numbers are slightly skewed. Even so, the following facts are interesting. Worldwide, there are less than 20 fatal shark attacks a year. This becomes even more interesting when you learn that every year, 100 deaths are caused by wasps, 150 by falling coconuts and 600-700 by both toasters and chairs. People who worry about sharks in the water should instead worry about the water itself: you are 1000 times more likely to die from drowning than from a shark attack.

Yes, in an average day, you are more likely to come across a chair or toaster, and most accidents do take place in the home. Still, it does make you rethink the image you carry in your head of a shark - and see coconuts in a very different light.

Sealife Sunday Fact #1: Sharks are statistically less dangerous than wasps, coconuts, toasters and chairs.