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In movies such as 'Jaws' and 'Deep Blue Sea', sharks have been depicted as cold blooded killers. Although I must agree with the fact that they are cold blooded creatures and that by being natural predators, they must kill in order to ensure their own survival, the similarities stop right there!

In these movies, they also made them to be smart stalkers as in reality, the only hunting moves they actually put on their potential preys are the angles or types of attacks. They do not plan or stalk their preys like humans do; after all, their brain is not large enough to think things through. The functions that their brain can perform are simply based on automatisms and survival instincts.

Although, humans are victims of an average of 58 on a yearly basis, in 2005, only 4 of these 58 attacks resulted in fatalities. If you compare these results to the 100 million sharks that are killed every year of which 100% of this statistic results in fatalities, this is a blessing that the number of fatalities resulting from shark attacks on humans is not as alarming.

While there have been 39 shark species involved in shark attacks on humans in the period of time ranging from 1580 up to 2006. These shark species have been involved in 1238 shark attacks on humans of which 622 were unprovoked attack that resulted in 135 fatalities. There were also 348 provoked shark attacks on humans, 163 boat attacks and 105 no assignment (unable to decide in which category it should have been added).

Now, of theses 1238 shark attacks, the great white shark is in the first place with 430 shark attacks (63 fatalities) on humans. The second place goes to the tiger shark with 145 attacks (28 fatalities). The third place goes to the bull shark with 110 shark attacks (23 fatalities). The fourth place goes to the requiem shark with 49 attacks (8 fatalities). The fifth place goes to the sand tiger shark with 76 shark attacks (2 fatalities). The sixth place goes to the blacktip shark with 40 attacks (1 fatality). The seventh place goes to the hammerhead shark with 38 attacks (1 fatality. The eighth place goes to the spinner shark with 16 shark attacks. The ninth place goes to the blue shark with 38 attacks (4 fatalities). Finally, the tenth place belongs to the blacktip reef shark with 20 shark attacks on humans.

While some people think the bigger the shark, the most dangerous it is to humans, facts prove them wrong. In fact, while some shark species were not responsible for as many fatalities then others, other factors contributed to this list. As an example, the number of unprovoked attacks, provoked ones and boat attacks are some of these factors. As some were not assigned, confirmed or not specified, such statistics may vary or affect the ranking of certain species. Please note that these rankings can also change according to new statistics.