Sharkalytics: A Data-Driven Dive into Shark Attack Patterns

Overview:

This aim of his project is to clean and format a dataset containing information about shark attacks, and use the data to produce visualizations that will either prove or disprove my hypotheses.

Requirements/Libraries Used:

This code was written in Python/Jupyter Notebook, using the following libraries:

• Numpy
• Pandas
• Matplotlib.pyplot
• Seaborn
• Re

Hypothesis:

1. How does the number of shark attacks change over the years, and which gender is attacked the most?
2. Which shark species are responsible for the most human bites, and in what human activities do these bites occur most frequently?
3. What are the countries with the highest number of shark attacks?
4. Which countries experience the highest number of shark attacks, and are these attacks more commonly associated with specific, more dangerous shark species?

1. How does the number of shark attacks change over the years, and which gender is attacked the most?

Based on the data, statistics indicate that more men are unlikely bitten by sharks. We can probably attribute that to different factors such as that it's possible that shark populations have increased over the years or also that documentation of shark attacks has been recorded more often over time.

2. Which shark species are responsible for the most human bites, and in what human activities do these bites occur most frequently?

On the second graphic, we can see that men often engage in riskier activities than women, such as surfing, diving or swimming. It might be one of the reasons why men are most common bitten by sharks as they increase their exposure to potencial shark encounters.

Other reason could be also that men have more aggressive or energetic movements while in the water, making them more noticeable to sharks.

3. What are the countries with the highest number of shark attacks?

The countries with highest number of shark attactks, are the USA, Autralia, South Africa, Italy and Reunion (France).

What these countries have in common is that all of them have warm waters, abundant marine life and also received a lot of tourist which is easier to have interactions.

4. Which countries experience the highest number of shark attacks, and are these attacks more commonly associated with specific, more dangerous shark species?

The prevalence of abundance white sharks in USA, Australia and South Africa, might be the reason of such a high number of attacks.

White sharks are more aggressive in their feeding compared to some other shark species plus that are very curious. Reason why they may investigate objects by bumping or mouthing them.

Usually, the shark human interactions involving white sharks are cases of mistaken identity.

It also happens with the tiger shark, this specie may investigate or bite objects, leading to occasional shark attacks on humans.

Otherwise, bull sharks are known for territorial behavior and can be aggressive with humans, particularly in shallow waters.

In conclusion

• Given the increasing trend of shark attacks over the years, it's recommended to swim in a pool.

• If you're planning to visit the USA, Australia, or South Africa, it's highly advisable to reconsider swimming.

• If you ever encounter a great white shark, it's a cause for concern.