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Just realized that "98% of sharks are harmless" stat floating around is missing something huge
I saw a viral post last week claiming 98% of shark species are harmless to humans, and it got 40k shares before anyone checked. Turns out the real number from the Florida Museum's ISAF database is closer to 95%, and that 98% figure came from a 2019 blog post with zero sources. I spent 20 minutes on it and found the actual bite stats for 2023 show 69 unprovoked attacks worldwide, which is way more useful than a made up percent. Has anyone else seen this stat pop up in their feed, or is my algorithm just shark obsessed right now?
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the_alex10d ago
95 vs 98 percent is not really the huge deal the post makes it out to be. Both numbers still mean the same thing: most sharks leave you alone, so the panic over a blog getting the exact figure wrong feels like a lot of noise.
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