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How Naturalist Sy Montgomery Is Getting Kids Excited About Great White Sharks

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It's shark season on the Cape — the Great Whites usually start arriving around Memorial Day. But, as you head out to the beach this summer, we want to debunk some of the myths surrounding one of the ocean's most mysterious creatures.

As Greg Skomal, senior marine fisheries biologist with the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries, says, "We really only have about four documented shark attacks in Massachusetts going back literally hundreds of years. So, if we were to take that as an indication of risk, or probability of attack, we really can see that it is quite low."

While the average number of people killed by sharks annually worldwide is about 11, the number of sharks killed by people annually worldwide is 100 million.

The reality behind those numbers is the subject of a new children's book, "The Great White Shark Scientist." The book follows Greg Skomal as he scouts the seas for the world's most feared fish to help scientists, and the public, learn more about it.

You can track the sharks that Skomal follows by downloading the free Ocearch Global Shark Tracker app for iOS or Android.

Guest

Sy Montgomery, naturalist and author of "The Great White Shark Scientist," among other books. She tweets @SyTheAuthor.

This segment aired on June 9, 2016.

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