by Stefani Andrews

Created on: September 18, 2011   Last Updated: September 21, 2011

Anyone who has spent some time watching the Discovery Channel's renowned Shark Week knows that sharks are the apex predator of the ocean. Apart from some kinds of predation from animals like Orca Whales, they have no natural predators. There are very few animals or fish in the ocean that can challenge the authority of a shark apart from another shark. So it may be surprising to learn that half of all shark species are considered endangered or at risk of becoming endangered. The

endangered shark species list has 201 shark species that are currently listed as endangered. There are a little bit over 400 species of sharks that are known to science, which means that 50% of shark species are in danger. Recently there has even been some media coverage that the widely feared Great White Shark may be more endangered than the tiger, which is one of the most critically endangered animals on the planet. But this leads to the question, if sharks have so few natural predators then how could 50% of them be in danger of extinction? The answer is a toxic combination of the shark's natural biology and the shark's biggest predator, humans.

First, however, it is important to understand how a species becomes endangered. The IUCN, International Union for Conservation of Nature, is the organization that tracks the science and information available on animal species and determines the health of their population. A species is placed on the list when it is determined that the population's numbers may be dwindling to a point where it may not be sustainable and the animal is in danger of becoming extinct. There are several different classifications after a species is named an endangered species. But the most important are near threatened, vulnerable, endangered, and critical. Near threatened means that the species is in danger of falling into the threatened category if steps to protect the species are not taken. Vulnerable means there is a high risk of extinction in the wild. Endangered means that there is a very high risk of extinction in the wild. And finally, critical means that extinction in the wild is imminent if drastic measures are not taken to preserve the species immediately.

There are several pressures that humans are placing on sharks that deplete their numbers and have them named an endangered species. On average, human beings kill hundreds of millions of sharks per year globally. That is a massive number of animals being killed and a massive number of animals that are taken

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