Let's talk briefly about "death by coconut".
A 1984 paper "Injuries Due to Falling Coconuts" written by Dr. Peter Barss, a surgeon working at a provincial hospital in Papua New Guinea estimated that over a 4 yr period at that hospital, 2.5% of trauma admits were for coconut related injury.
He didn't document any deaths, but shared anecdotal stories of deaths from many years ago, establishing an upper limit on actual mortality (deaths) of 150 people/year worldwide by extrapolating these anecdotes.
This got picked up in news media, insurance companies, etc.
You're most likely to encounter this dubious factoid in comparison to shark attack deaths:
"150 people/year experience death by coconut, while sharks only kill 5."
Neither of those rates is based on a careful analysis of data.
There are dozens of instances of deaths resulting from coconuts (weighing up to 3 lbs) falling from trees (which may be 100 foot tall), but the actual rate of deaths is likely far less than 150/year unless you include the trees falling on houses during storms.
(📷: Dcubillas, wikimedia)
When I first visited the Caribbean as a kid, I remember hearing coconuts falling from trees at night and sounding like a cannon when they hit the ground. In later years, the groundskeepers at the resort kept the coconuts trimmed from the trees, probably so they wouldn't kill guests.
I've only visited coconut dense living enviro a few times, but have TWO very near death experiences.
Walking at night on narrow path in light jungle, friends in front and behind. Heard rustling above, stopped to look up where the noise was coming from, coconut landed on the path at my feet.
If I wasn't looking up, it probably would have hit me where I was standing.
Other time was when I went back to my fav reading spot under a coconut palm, there was a coconut in the spot where I put my butt when I sit there.
