Megalodon
Megalodon was a dino shark.
That is to say that Megalodon was an ancient shark who lived many thousands of years ago. Scientists can’t seem to agree on its size but it was determined that it would have been between 40 feet and 100 feet long, possibly even more.
The smallest size they estimate it to be is at least two times larger than the modern day Great white that is so feared and discussed.
This can only be estimated because only vertebrae have been found, along with some teeth, which are about the size of a grown person’s hand.
No other parts of the ancient whale eater are available because sharks are made up largely of cartilage and not bone, which can’t be fossilized easily.
The Megalodons teeth however are huge, about two times as big as those of a great white, and so it is supposed that he was much like a great white shark, in looks, except a great deal larger.
This Huge Sharks dinner was probably whales. Sharks today will eat about five percent of their own body weight each day.
Humans eat about the same actually. Since sharks are fish, and therefore cold blooded, they don’t have to eat as much as we do because they have no need to keep their bodies warm.
Finding any shark fossil is very rare. Shark cartilage doesn’t fossilize well, only the teeth do so because they are extremely hard.
Megalodon teeth are very close to those of the Great white shark, but are much larger. To accommodate these teeth he would have had to have a mouth that could open about seven feet high.
He could very easily swallow a great white shark completely whole.
Megalodon lived a very long time ago, about 5 million years ago. He lived during what we call the Miocene era. He is now extinct and gone, but still scientists argue about how long he has been extinct.
Fossilized Megalodon teeth have been found in Europe, India, Oceania Australia, North America and South America.
Find out more about the Megalondon over at Wikipedia »
cool
cool and how did it become extinct?
WHERE ARE OTHER MEGALODON SPECIES DO YOU THINK.
I think there are some still present but in deep ocean.
who has seen a real shark i have have u
yes I had…in a deep sea aquarium… real but not really exites me.
that picture is cool i love sharks but my favorite is megladon
love this shark
Megladons have been said to be still here someone said that they saw one in a chinese whale hunt.
I love all sharks but megalodon is my favorite. I’ve studied them for a long long time and i’m only 8.
This is actually a quite unique shark.
Why is the shark so big?
best shark ever. heard lots of things about it.
Its amazing to think how this shark could swallow a room in my house
this shark was said to be able to take out any animal alive if it was still i alive i dare to to try me
I’m learning about todays Sharks,and I wanted to compare Megalodon. Is it the size of the Whale Shark.
Whale sharks have been seen and photographed measuring up to 25 meters long. Megalodon is estimated to have grown as large as 30 to 35 meters long. Megalodon is larger but not by much.
actually the largest recorded individual whale shark was about 12-13 metres in length and there’s no evidence to prove that 25m whale sharks exists thus being photographed or seen, unless you’ve been hearing those ‘fishermen stories’.
Also Megalodon only grew an average length of 16-20 meters at best, 30-35 meters are based on exaggerated guesses by previous scientists. In the light of new fossil discoveries and advances vertebrae research the estitimate of 30+m is considered inaccurate.
source: wikipedia
if the megalodon was the so big & could eat pretty much anything, then how did it become extinct ?
Evolution has only one enemy yet it’s the sole motor driving it, mother nature itself. As the Ice Age began the sea temperatures plumetted and poor megalodon couldn’t adapt with the changes. This was also the time when whales became migtratrory and escaped near to the poles where the shark could not follow.
In the end Megalodon might had eaten its way out of existence.
I scuba dive in the Cooper River around Charleston which is one of the best dive sites in the world for Fossils of this type and have collected dozens of teeth in the 2 to 5.5 inch range over a 30 year diving career. I would not like to meet Mr. Meg under any circumstances as I kind of know what the out come would be. Either I would be a light snack or he would ignore me as too small to bother with after which I would have to buy a new wet suit after soiling the one I was wearing. BTW, It became extinct due to climactic changes killing off it’s food sources and changing its living environment. To even consider that Megs exist today is sophomoric at best. Seen any t rexes lately?
what is reason why they were become extinct?