Humanity generally fears sharks. Selfies? They're all the rage.
Interestingly, however, the latter has been associated with more deaths than shark attacks. Which means selfies aren't as harmless as they seem.
"Through August of this year, there've been eight confirmed shark-related deaths. In those same eight months, the number of selfie-related deaths reached at least ten," Conde Nast Traveler reported. "As some of us have been saying, the selfie stick is your real enemy."
According to Mashable, four out of the 10 selfie deaths recorded were caused by falls. One of them involved the recent death of a 66-year-old Japanese tourist who fell after trying to take a selfie on the steps of the Taj Mahal in India.
"The next leading cause of deaths involving selfies was being hit or injured by trains, either because the individual was taking trying to get a photo with a train or because the photo they wanted involved getting on dangerous equipment," the news source revealed.
Although it is not certain whether daring selfies are on the rise, a number of tourist attractions have begun regulating, even banning, this practice.
"Parks have closed because visitors keep trying to take selfies with bears, bull runs - an already dangerous activity - have had to expressly outlaw selfie-taking, and even Tour de France cyclists are concerned about selfie danger," Mashable noted.
"The Russian Interior Ministry reacted to 'dozens' of selfie deaths and injuries early this year with a series of warnings," CN Traveler also confirmed. "Deaths from bridge falls, hand grenade explosions, shots to the head, bison gorings - it's been enough that the European Union, in June, actually proposed the criminalization of certain types of selfies: namely, those containing landmarks like the Eiffel Tower or Rome's Trevi Fountain."
It is also worth noting that a number of memes or picture messages have included jokes about the extremes people would go through just to take the selfie that hopefully beats all one's friends' selfies or document crucial moments in one's life. Unfortunately, such jokes appear to mirror reality, considering the number of fatalities the phenomenon has generated.
Recently, a 27-year-old surfer figured in a shark attack in John Braxton took time to take a selfie, including a shot of his mangled limb.
"Mr Braxton uploaded the gruesome video to his Instagram page a few hours after the attack, but has since taken it down," 9news.com.au reported.
WATCH: