Coconuts falling from trees can cause injury and even death due to their speed and height. While the exact number of deaths is unclear, it is advised to avoid walking or resting under coconut trees, and some resorts employ people to drop coconuts to protect guests.
People can be injured and, in rare cases, killed by falling coconuts. Evidence of danger was extensively investigated by Peter Barss, who noted a high injury rate while working as a hospital director in Papua New Guinea in the 1980s. In 1989, Barss published a study in the Journal of Trauma titled “Injuries From Falling Coconuts.”
In Barss’s study, he analyzes how hard coconuts falling from a tree could hit a person and cites the number of people injured by coconuts admitted to his hospital. It is true that a person can be injured, and in some cases killed, by a coconut because the trees are tall and the speed of the coconut accelerates as it falls. This could be essentially the equivalent of dropping a coconut, in many cases, off a ten-story building.
Passersby could get concussions and it would be theoretically possible for a direct hit to cause death. This would be especially true if a small child or infant were affected. However, most people don’t suffer acute injuries from falling coconuts, and Barss’s study reports no deaths.
However, a statement by George Burgess in 2002 regarding the danger of coconuts stirred the pot. Florida Museum of Natural History employee Burgess said people were 15 times more likely to be killed by falling coconuts than to receive a fatal bite from a shark. The problem with Burgess’s statement is that his information hasn’t been verified. Barss says the worldwide coconut death toll cited by Burgess, of 150 per year, is accurate or even too low, but he also lacks the documentation to substantiate his claims.
While the numbers may be questionable, it’s undoubtedly silly to sleep or rest under a coconut tree. In fact, according to Barss, walking under coconut trees should be avoided whenever possible. There is potential for danger and there are certainly records of injury.
In fact, some resorts employ people to drop coconuts from trees to protect vacationers. However, this isn’t always done, so visitors should ask a resort or hotel if they maintain this practice. To be on the safe side, people should avoid the dangers of falling coconuts by staying well away from trees and simply walking around them.
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