Mistaken Identity by Sharks

By: Student Scientist C.
Arizona, Age 14

Step One
Sharks are feared predators roaming the oceans. My question is: do sharks purposely attack humans, or is it just mistaken identity. My hypothesis is that sharks attack humans out of mistaken identity thinking humans are another prey. Splashing on the surface may confuse the shark into thinking we are another creature.
Step Two
I watched 3 videos on the behavior of sharks including 1 on shark attacks. I recorded my observations of some attacks by the sharks on regular prey such as fish and seals. I then compared this to what I heard from the survivors of shark attacks from the shark attack movie. I used this method to analyze the attack on a sharks prey to human attacks.
Step Three
I did not attain enough information to accurately give a yes or no answer. I found that there are 30 known species that attack humans with an average of 100 world wide shark attacks on humans per year. The three most known to attack are the bull, the tiger, and the great white shark. Many attacks happen in deep water during the sharks hunting time of the early morning and near dusk time. When I analyze this information I believe that swimming in the sharks hunting time and the sharks poor eye site lead to many mistaken identity attacks.
Step Four
Though I did not attain enough information I can make an assumption. As the population of humans grow, there are more people in the water. When humans go swimming at the time sharks are likely to feed, there are going to be attacks. One thing I would change in my original experiment would to have more resources then I did. With more resources I would be able to give a more detailed conclusion.