From their legendary status as the deadliest predator in history, to their powerful bite
force, here are 9 things you (probably) didn’t know about the Megalodon
9.
How big was the megalodon?
There has been much debate about the size to which adult Megalodons could grow- mainly
because the only fossil records available for them are their teeth and, on occasion,
parts of the spinal column.
It’s generally thought that the typical maximum size they could grow to is around
60 feet, with the average size being around 35 feet, but this doesn’t mean that sometimes
one could grow to freakish proportions and reach the 70 foot mark.
The could also weigh as much as 75 tons, with some thought to have even grown beyond that.
This makes the shark by far the biggest predator to have lived on the planet, as far as we
know.
They dwarfed great white sharks and were about 4 times their size.
Quite often, animals that live in areas with vast food sources, and the right balance of
conditions, can exceed their normal expected size- and sharks are no exception.
Female great white sharks, for example, typically grow to around 15 feet, but some specimens
have been found to reach up to 23 feet.
In the megalodons case, further factors are thought to have worked in their advantage
to reaching huge sizes.
Having a lot of easy prey around them at the time, the evolution of regional endothermy-which
means they would have had a faster metabolic rate and swimming speed, and the lack of predators
of their own, allowed them to continue to grow.
This doesn’t, however, mean that they were the largest creature to have ever lived in
the ocean.
Blue whales, for example, grow up to 100 feet long and can weigh as much as 200 tons.
While they would be bigger than a Megalodon if one was alive today, it’s not likely
that even a Blue Whale would have been able to fend off the attack of the giant shark.
Technically the biggest fish to ever live was the Leedsichthys problematicus, which
lived during the Jurassic Era and was the biggest fish ever found that we have evidence
for.
They were at first believed to be 90 feet long, but since it was only based on a few
bone fragments, now they have been downsized to a maximum of 55 feet.
So was the Megalodon the biggest fish to ever live?
It was pretty close and hard to say, it all depends on what paleontologists continue to
uncover!
8.
How big were their teeth?
One of the scariest (and coolest) things about the Megalodon is the size of its teeth, up
to 7 inches long!
That’s more than twice the size of the teeth of a great white shark.
Even a T-Rex's teeth only grew to around 6 inches.
The Megalodon did have one enemy to be aware of however.
The prehistoric whale known as the leviathan melvillei, overlapped a bit with the Megalodon
and had teeth that were about 14 inches long!!
They also had to worry about each other.
Like the sharks of today, the Megalodon was made up primarily of cartilage- a substance
that decomposes too quick to fossilize.
This means their teeth account for the vast majority of the fossils that have ever been
found of the giant shark, and it’s from studying these few remaining fossils that
researchers have determined the other things we know about them.
Shark species typically have at least 6 rows of teeth at any one time, just in case one
is lost while hunting- and with 24 front row teeth in the upper jaw and 22 in the lower,
the Meg would have had at least 276 of these giant teeth in its mouth.
7.
The Meg and the Great White
When you hear about the Megalodon, comparisons with the great white shark are never too far
behind.
But despite the two species being quite similar in their predatory nature, they aren’t closely
related at all.
When Megalodon teeth were first discovered, they were put into the same genus as the Great
White Shark, known as Carcharodon, because of their similarly serrated teeth and the
fact they were the apex predators of the time.
Recent research has led to the Megalodon being reclassified into its own genus, the Carcharocles.
The Meg is now thought to have been the end of its evolutionary line- one that can be
traced back as far as 60 million years to the Otodus shark.
Similar research has shown the Great White shark to be much more closely related to the
Mako shark and linked back to the extinct broadtoothed Mako shark from about 5 million
years ago.
This fossil evidence shows the Great White and Megalodon to be quite far apart from each
other, and very different to how the media and movies like to make it seem.
Although it does make it much easier for us to imagine it, if we can compare it to something
we actually know.
And now for number 6, but first be sure to subscribe if you are new here so you don’t
miss out on the latest videos!!!
6.
Did Megalodons eat whales?
With its massive teeth and giant size, Megalodons truly were the apex predators of their time,
and to feed such a mighty appetite, they hunted giant prey.
It's been estimated that a Meg would have needed to eat at least one ton of food EVERY
day to sustain itself.
So it was always on the prowl searching for prehistoric whales and other large chubby
marine mammals like Sea Lions and Sea Cows.
Numerous whale fossils have actually been found with obvious signs of massive bite marks
in the bones that were made by teeth that match those of the Megalodon.
Meg teeth have also been found at fossil sites- lying next to the half-eaten remains of ancient
whale carcasses.
5.
Megalodons near South Africa?
Evidence of Megalodons has been found around the world, but there have been numerous stories,
recently, that they have been spotted in the waters around South Africa.
Alive.
While it would be amazing, and frightening, if true- these stories have mainly come from
a Shark Week documentary in 2013.
It used photoshopped footage to show researchers trying to tag a huge shark that they called
a Meg from a shark cage, and watching it dive into deeper depths than any known shark.
They also included reports of a South African vessel that was supposedly destroyed by a
giant shark in 2013, but there was no mention of this incident in any South African news
outlets at the time, and it was confirmed that it was completely fabricated for the
show.
The Discovery channel’s use of dramatic scenes to engage viewers is certainly effective,
but you can’t always trust what you see.
They want to capture people's attention and raise awareness about sharks, and they’ll
do whatever it takes to get views too, taking a page from the YouTube handbook!
This is not evidence that Megalodon still exists in the oceans- nor is it evidence that
is doesn’t exist either.
But seeing that the Megalodon was a gigantic shark with a large appetite, I am pretty sure
we would know if they were still around.
4.
Bite Force
With the Megalodon reaching around 60 feet in length and having teeth as large and as
sharp as I mentioned before, it's perhaps no surprise that altogether, this combined
to give it the most powerful bite of any animal that has ever lived.
(Again, that we know so far!)
However, it did have a competitor- the equally impressive and ginormous Livyatan, the sperm
whale with fully functioning 14-inch teeth and a 3-meter-long head.
Scientists have not been able to use the same form of analysis so we still don’t have
a way to measure their bite force yet.
The BBC reported that researchers estimated the megashark's bite to be an "extraordinary"
108,514-182,201N. That is enough to crush a small car.
To put this into perspective, the bite pressure of a great white shark is estimated at about
17,790 newtons.
Currently the living winner of the strongest bite force actually confirmed is the Saltwater
crocodile with 16,460 newtons of bite force.
We only exert about 890 Newtons when we are chewing on a steak.
3.
Where did the Megalodon live?
With their large size, Megalodons are often depicted as living in deep water- but that’s
not actually the case at all.
Their fossilized teeth have been found all over the world- including what is now Europe,
Africa, the Americas, and Australia.
Fossils found in the southern hemisphere and in the Pacific tend to be larger than those
found in the northern hemisphere and in the Atlantic.
Most fossils have been found in waters that are now shallow, and in places where waters
would have been shallow at the time they lived.
Some particularly shallow regions, such as the Panama Bay, are thought to have been nurseries
for young Megalodons because of all the juvenile teeth that have been found there.
Typically the deep ocean is not home to many species because there is not as much food,
and as we know, Megalodons needed to eat such large quantities of food to survive, they
would have had no choice but to live in shallower waters- after all, that’s where most ocean
mammals can be found!
2.
How much are fossilized teeth?
As mentioned earlier, a Megalodon could have as many as 276 teeth in their mouths at any
one time, and they were quite a common species around the world.
This means that there are huge numbers of fossils out there to be found, and they are
regularly discovered in fossil beds.
You could find your own teeth!
Do any of you collect these?
Let me know in the comments!
With fossils, pricing is always subjective.
4-5 inch teeth are relatively common in certain areas so you could easily get a Megalodon
tooth for your own collection.
A fragment of a tooth might cost you only 20 bucks.
Of course, for more perfect examples it’ll cost more, but you can buy teeth of up to
5 or 6 inches for a couple hundred dollars.
6 inches and above though are extremely rare and have sold for thousands of dollars.
Collectors look for size and quality or condition, and it's almost impossible to find a 7-inch
tooth for sale.
If it were, it would likely cost tens of thousands of dollars- but this is still nowhere near
the 56,000 dollars that was paid for a T-Rex tooth at an auction in 2011.
1.
Are Megalodons Extinct?
The short answer is yes.
Megalodons are thought to have become extinct between 3.6 and 2.6 million years ago.
Which is a relief because these massive predators would make the waters incredibly dangerous
places to be.
This would be a huge hazard to the modern world!
But, as with all animals, it’s not possible to be absolutely certain that there isn’t
still a Megalodon lurking in the depths somewhere.
Researchers are fairly convinced because we know that their preferred hunting grounds
were in shallower waters- and there hasn't been a confirmed sighting of one ever, nor
has there been evidence of a megalodon attack.
We surely would have seen a whale carcass or something wash ashore with teeth marks
from such a ferocious predator if they did still exist.
Some people are still holding out hope though, that there might be one lurking around in
deeper water, or in regions without much human activity.
There’s very little we know for sure about what’s in the depths of the ocean, and there
have been two discoveries that suggest there’s plenty more that could be hidden down there.
The first was the megamouth shark, that was only discovered in 1976, which can grow to
15 feet, and feeds on plankton at great depths.
The second is the coelacanth, a deepwater prehistoric fish that was long thought to
have been extinct until specimens were caught in 1938 and 1952.
These prove that ancient species can still exist- but as for the largest predator to
have ever lived, the evidence points towards the fact that they aren’t around anymore.
Thanks for watching!
Are you glad the megalodon is no longer around or are you hopeful we might find one?
Let me know in the comments below!
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See you next time!!