So, it turns out that small children have absolutely zero survival instinct when it comes to sharks.
In seeming confirmation of the theory that humans are, in fact, maybe quite undeserving of our spot at the apex of the food chain, a study out of Adelaide University finds that very few young children are naturally afraid of sharks.
Rather, they become afraid of sharks as they grow older and potentially more amenable to the influences of society and media.
A small caveat: this humble Back Page scribe is by no means a shark hater. Shark attacks are really quite rare, and they do play an awfully important role in the marine ecosystem.
What I am, though, is a committed ocean hater. I love a swim as much as the next person, but I just don’t think we should be probing the depths of the sea.
Sharks already know the secrets of the Depths. What have they seen that we have not?
And because of that, I do believe that most people should have an innate, healthy fear – but not hatred – of sharks.
The Adelaide University researchers collected data on attitudes toward sharks from 326 parents and 374 children aged between two and 12 years.
Among the parents, around 30% reported a high level of shark-related fear.
Just 14% of children associated sharks with fear or said they were scary, with no significant associations between fear and either gender of the child or their frequency of going in the ocean.
“Most commonly, children referred to how sharks swim and eat when describing what sharks do, followed by hurt humans (21%),” the researchers wrote in Human Dimensions of Wildlife.
“When describing what sharks look like, children commonly referred to teeth (44%), fins (31%), and that sharks are big (33%).”
Two in three children said they liked sharks. One four-year-old respondent went so far as to say “sharks are very cool”.
There was, however, a significant association between increased age and reporting a fear of sharks.
“This finding supports the idea that fear associations develop with age in young children, possibly due to increased exposure to societal narratives surrounding sharks or learned behaviors,” the researchers wrote.
“Films were also a popular way for children to experience sharks, with the films Finding Nemo and Jaws being specifically mentioned in our sample.
“The depiction of the ‘rogue shark’ in Jaws has long been understood as having a negative impact on perceptions of sharks and policy decisions.
“While media exposure was not directly assessed in the present study, children’s references to Jaws suggest that such portrayals may contribute to how some children think about sharks, particularly among older participants who were more likely to mention the film.”
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