Sharks could be in areas near coastal urban landscapes it's important to remember that shark attacks
66% of the world's population will live in urban areas by 2050, and a majority of those cities will likely be near coastlines
As we continue to urbanize our coasts, understanding how ocean life adapts to human development is becoming increasingly important
Animals, in general, are categorized as either urban adapters, such as rats, raccoons, pigeons and opossums who thrive and even depend on humans to survive
Based on studies of land predators, scientists predicted that sharks would avoid the densely populated coastline, or appear only during periods when there are fewer people
When looking at the data, scientists found that "space use patterns of tracked sharks were consistent with that of 'urban adapters
They said the "modeling also revealed that an unmeasured spatial variable was driving considerable shark residency in areas exposed to high urbanization
Unprovoked shark bites, are extremely rare — an average of 72 incidents are confirmed worldwide each year, according to the Florida Museum of Natural History