The largest shark in the world, megalodon: photo. Megalodon is a giant extinct shark. Photo of megalodon How many years does megalodon live
Oddly enough, the most famous prehistoric shark is still shrouded in mystery. After all, it is known mainly from its teeth and a small number of vertebrae. Latin name of the species comes from a pair of ancient Greek words for "big tooth". The reason is simple: the fish’s teeth were gigantic in size, just like the fish itself. It can be called one of the largest and most dangerous marine predators of all time.
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Time and place of existence
Megalodons existed from the end of the Oligocene to the beginning of the Pleistocene, about 28.1 - 1.5 million years ago (from the Rupelian to the beginning of the Calabrian stage). They were very widespread: remains are found on almost all continents, with the exception of Antarctica. Fossilized teeth have also been discovered at considerable distances from land, for example in the Mariana Trench in the Pacific Ocean.
A rich painting by Italian paleoartist Alberto Gennari: a megalodon begins to eat a whale. Restless seagulls are circling nearby, and smaller sharks have gathered in the depths, ready to snatch a piece at any opportunity.
Types and history of discovery
For a long time, the extinct fish was considered a relative of the white shark and was assigned to the genus Carcharodon (in this case, the Latin name of the species is Carcharodon megalodon), however, recent research suggests that it belongs to the genus Carcharocles (in this case the name is Carcharocles megalodon). At the moment, there is no complete certainty on this issue due to the lack of sufficient material.
In this dynamic painting by Canadian artist Andrew Domachowski, a megalodon literally bursts into a living gathering with its mouth open.
By all indications, people have found fossil remains of megalodon and other prehistoric sharks since primitive times. However, the first fairly clear mention in the literature dates back to the Renaissance: the finds of huge triangular teeth extracted from rocks are described.
Naturally, in those days mythical and even mystical properties were easily attributed to these impressive artifacts. It was said that this was real evidence of the existence of terrible dragons and giant snakes - their petrified tongues. There was even a common name - glossopetras(Latin word glossopetrae comes from the ancient Greek phrase "stone tongues").
However, even then there were scientists who were well acquainted with the anatomy of sharks. In 1667, the Danish anatomist and geologist Niels Stensen published his work "Elementorum myologiæ specimen, seu musculi descriptio geometrica: cui accedunt Canis Carchariæ dissectum caput, et dissectus piscis ex Canum genere", in which he notes the extraordinary similarity of the glossopetra with the teeth of a large shark caught near the port city of Livorno (Italy) a year earlier.
His famous illustration from the treatise is presented, where we see the supposed head of a megalodon at the base of the teeth. It still appears in many books on the history of paleontology as one of the first paleontological discoveries.
However, the scientific description of megalodon was only two hundred years later. In 1835, the Swiss naturalist Jean Louis Agassiz, using the knowledge on sharks accumulated by the 19th century, assigned the name Carcharodon megalodon to the owner of the huge fossil teeth. It happens within the book "Recherches Sur Les Poissons Fossiles", which was completely completed in 1843.
Turkish illustrator Kerem Beyit shows us an attack on a pod of sperm whales from the depths.
At the beginning of the article, we explained the species name of megalodon. The Latin name of the genus, Carcharocles, comes from a pair of ancient Greek words for “glorious tooth” (Carcharodon - “shark tooth”). Since then, a huge number of fossilized megalodon teeth of various sizes have been found in different parts of the world. Some of them were deposited in museums, while others are in private collections.
Body structure
The body length of the megalodon reached 16 meters. The height is up to 4.5 meters. He weighed up to 47,690 kilograms. It is the largest representative of the lamniformes order and one of the largest sharks in the entire history of our planet.
Comparison of an animal with a white shark and a diver from BBC artists.
And finally, a comparison of the megalodon with the average bus from the documentary "Prehistoric Predators: Monster Shark", produced by National Geographic.
Unfortunately, megalodon is known only from numerous teeth, as well as fragments of the spine. This is directly related to the fact that the shark’s skeleton consists not of bones, but of cartilage: the likelihood of their fossilization is significantly less. Therefore, the full image of the ancient predator remains a mystery. Currently, most reconstructions are based on the structure of its possible relative, the white shark.
Megalodon moved, just like modern species, controlling movement in the water using fins of several types. He was capable of developing high speeds, so necessary for a swift attack and when chasing prey. The head is equipped with powerful trap-like jaws with several rows of sharp teeth.
Dr. Jeremiah Clifford, who specializes in skeletal reconstructions, stands in the jaws of a megalodon, holding the jaws of a white shark in his hands.
And now for a rather spectacular comparison of a megalodon tooth with the teeth of a white shark.
Note also that the length of the largest tooth is about 18.5 centimeters diagonally. It was discovered by paleontologist Peter Larson of the Black Hills Geological Research Institute. This is the largest tooth for the entire existence of the superorder of sharks.
We present to your attention a photograph of a record-breaking megalodon tooth (in the foreground).
Bite force
Recent studies show that the megalodon had an incredible bite force of up to 108,514 N. Apparently, it was necessary to inflict effective damage when hunting large animals.Other aspects
The body of the Cenozoic super predator was voluminous and teardrop-shaped. It smoothly turned into a tail, which ended in a rather long heterocercal caudal fin. Overall, the megalodon was a superbly armed shark of enormous physical strength. The photo shows an exhibit of the species Carcharocles megalodon (formerly Carcharodon megalodon) from the Calvert Maritime Museum (Solomons Settlement, Maryland, USA). Reconstructed on the basis of a white shark, taking into account available fossils.
Below are spectacular jaws in the beautiful interior of the American Museum of Natural History (New York, New York, USA).
Nutrition and lifestyle
Megalodon lived in seas almost all over the world, but preferred warm environments. Apparently, the predator used behavioral patterns quite similar to modern white sharks. However, there were also significant differences dictated by the unique body structure and colossal size. Megalodon was a pronounced solitary predator, although it could easily tolerate other individuals in its immediate vicinity. In cases of attacks on very large whales, the collective attack was mutually beneficial.Unlike its modern relative, the adult megalodon had almost no restrictions on its range of potential targets. Megalodon could attack alone both schools of small fish and very large whales. This made it possible to become a real thunderstorm of the oceans, a marine resemblance to a tyrannosaurus. A superpredator over a fairly long chronological interval. At the same time, megalodon had different attack strategies for each type of animal, which is also observed in sharks today.
An unusual illustration by English paleoartist Robert Nichols. A herd of Anancus was carried out to sea by a tsunami that suddenly arrived on the calm sea shores. Their dead bodies drifted for some time until the spreading smell attracted the attention of huge ancient sharks. A pair of adult megalodons and one cub took advantage of the opportunity, not at all shying away from the taste of decomposition.
And here a living Platybelodon was attacked in shallow water. Sometimes young megalodons could hunt in shelf seas and, moreover, swim very close to the shore. Author: Canadian paleoartist Julius Csotonyi.
Let us note that the total capacity of the arsenal is not comparable with analogues of its contemporaries. Moreover, even the teeth were somewhat stronger than those of the latter: thicker and wider, with a massive base.
Comparison of the teeth of a megalodon (left) and a great white shark (right) at the same scale from Prehistoric Wildlife.
They were adapted to the high loads that arise during the hunt for perfectly protected animals. As fossils show, megalodon tried to inflict critical injuries by attacking important organs and motor systems. The force of the bite was so strong that even bones were cracked. And these were not only multi-meter thick-skinned whales (from the families of sperm whales and smooth whales to dolphins), but also giant sea turtles.
3D scene of a megalodon attacking a sea turtle from the Discovery Channel's Shark Week: Sharkzilla.
Other potential victims include smaller cetaceans, as well as pinnipeds and sirenians.
A very large megalodon is chasing a mammal from the order of sirens - the dugong.
Odobenocetops and Brygmophyseter, which appear in documentaries, could theoretically also be targets.
And this is not the full range of marine animals. Since megalodon existed for many millions of years, it managed to meet and survive more than one evolutionary generation of sea inhabitants. With a high probability, megalodons also ate representatives of other sharks. It is also important to say that the diet of very young individuals was significantly different from the diet of adults: the proportion of small fish and shellfish in it was significantly higher.
Video
Excerpt from the documentary "Prehistoric Predators: Monster Shark." Skeletal elements and hunting scenes are shown.
A fragment from the popular science series "Shark Week: Sharkzilla". Megalodon attacks various representatives of the ancient fauna.
Excerpt from the documentary "Jurassic Fight Club: Sea Hunters." A member of the Ancient Brygmophyseter pack is attacked. Note that the size of the latter is greatly overestimated here.
Fragment of the feature-documentary film "Walking with Sea Monsters." Observation of megalodon in its native habitat.
Literature
Recommended scientific works:- Wroe, S.; Huber, D. R.; Lowry, M.; McHenry, C.; Moreno, K.; Clausen, P.; Ferrara, T. L.; Cunningham, E.; Dean, M. N.; Summers, A. P. (2008).
How big was Megalodon and how much did it weigh?
Megalodon ( Carcharocles megalodon"big tooth") is the largest predatory shark in the history of the Earth. They have tried to estimate the size of prehistoric fish more than once. In 1909, when the megalodon's jaw was first reconstructed, scientists estimated the shark's body length to be 30 meters. Today's advances in vertebrate biology and new discoveries of megalodon remains have reduced the estimated size by half. Using different methods of studying the teeth of a predator, we obtain a body length from 13 to 18 meters. Only in 2015, after studying a large sample of teeth, an average length of 10 meters and a maximum of 15 meters was obtained. By comparison, a great white shark can theoretically reach seven meters in length. The size of megalodon is close to the largest marine reptiles of the Mesozoic, such as mosasaurs and ichthyosaurs.
Why are shark teeth used when estimating size, rather than parts of its skeleton? Because sharks are cartilaginous fish. That is, their skeleton consists not of bones, but of cartilage. Cartilage is poorly preserved. They decompose before they turn to stone. So we have almost no remains of megalodon, except for teeth.
For a long time, the mass of megalodon remained a subject of debate. It is difficult to draw conclusions about mass based only on the teeth of an animal. The lack of remains of the giant predator has prevented accurate estimates. If we reconstruct the megalodon based on the build of a white shark, we will get a body mass of 41 to 47 tons. But we can compare the dimensions of megalodon and whale shark to draw conclusions about the mass of extinct fish. This method reduces the weight to 30 tons. All the same, with such a mass, the predator must have consumed a colossal amount of food, more than a ton per day. While studying the fossils of whales, the same age as the megalodon, it became clear where the shark got so much food from. Many skeletal remains of large marine mammals had characteristic lesions consistent with the profile and size of megalodon teeth.
How big were megalodon teeth and what was the size of the largest specimen found?
Giant shark teeth are found all over the world. Their average size varies from 10 to 13 cm. These sizes are already impressive, since the teeth of a great white shark are only 7 cm long. However, several megalodon teeth have been found that are more than 17 cm long. The largest megalodon tooth found was as much as 19 cm.
In 1843, when the megalodon was first described, it was placed in the genus Carcharadon, which includes the great white shark. Two huge sharks, with large jagged teeth - they are probably related. But time passed, science developed, and the fossil record was filled in. Today, shark taxonomy looks different than it did a century and a half ago. The evolutionary paths of the white shark and megalodon diverged more than 60 million years ago.
Megalodon is believed to have the most powerful bite in the history of fish. Its giant jaws could clamp down on a victim with a monstrous force of 109 kN. This is three times stronger than the current record holder - the saltwater crocodile. In terms of bite force, megalodon is inferior to Tyrannosaurus (more than 200 kN) and Deinosuchus (more than 350 kN).
How many teeth did megalodon have?
Do not forget that the megalodon's jaw was lined with a huge number of sharp teeth. Predatory sharks like these tend to have a large number of teeth. The old ones break down and wear out, while new ones are on the way. The giant's two-meter jaw had more than 270 teeth arranged in five rows. Triangular serrations on them, the same as those of a white shark, indicate a similar feeding pattern. Megalodon did not swallow its prey, just as the great white shark does not. Sharp and strong teeth more than 10 cm long literally sawed off huge pieces of flesh from unlucky victims.
Of course, when talking about megalodon, one cannot ignore its teeth as valuable specimens for collectors. The fact is that sharks' teeth fall out regularly and are well preserved. Today, megalodon has been well studied, and there is no end to the findings. Small teeth cost little and can make an interesting and unusual gift. But samples from 16 centimeters are already very expensive and can cost tens of thousands of dollars.
But size is not the only factor that determines cost. It is also affected by preservation and color. The larger the size, the more difficult it is to find a well-preserved specimen. The most expensive teeth are considered to be large, impeccably preserved teeth, which are usually classified as “museum quality.”
Causes of extinction
The warm ocean and the enormous abundance of food made the megalodon a very successful predator. Remains of the ancient shark have been found in North and South America, Europe, Africa, as well as Puerto Rico, Cuba, Jamaica, the Canary Islands, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Malta, the Grenadines and India. But what led the megalodon to success was also its death: 2.6 million years ago, the planet’s climate began to change dramatically, the oceans cooled. The large fauna was dying out, and the giant predator simply had nothing to eat. The influence of other top predators, such as killer whales, cannot be ruled out. Today, a white shark weighing 1-2 tons is breakfast for young killer whales. But, most likely, megalodon became extinct due to a complex of reasons that unfortunately fell on its head.
The largest carnivorous marine animal that ever existed was the prehistoric monster megalodon - a direct relative of the modern great white shark.
It is believed that megalodons became extinct more than two million years ago, when in the Pliocene the climate cooled and the shelf seas, with the food familiar to megalodons, were covered with glaciers. Traces of these huge ancient fish were found in rocks of India, North Africa, Australia, Japan, Belgium and many other countries.
The most common teeth of the entire skeleton are the teeth of an extinct sea creature: the diagonal height of one megalodon tooth can reach 18 cm - not a single creature that existed in the ocean had teeth of this size.
However, here’s the strange thing - archaeologists began to find relatively young remains of megalodon - aged 10,000 - 8,000 years ago. Moreover, reports began to appear from experienced crews of various sea vessels who saw a huge yellowish back with a characteristic fin in the waves. Does all this mean that the prehistoric fish did not become extinct?
Yes, we can admit that sailors are mistaken when they confuse the silhouette of a megalodon with the silhouette of a whale shark. But how can we explain the fact that the fish seen by the Christina’s crew reached 35-37 meters in length? Even if you reduce this figure by half, there are no whale sharks of this size. But what kind of creature was this?
The news spread throughout the world as a sensation when, in 1954, 17 huge teeth stuck in the wood were found in the bottom of the ship Rachel Cohen, which was docked for repairs in the Adelaide dry dock. The width of each incisor reached 8 cm, length - 10 cm. By the way, even the size of the teeth of a great white does not exceed 6 cm.
The teeth embedded in the bottom were located in a semicircle - a bite characteristic of sharks, near a bent propeller, and the diameter of the semicircle was about 2 m. The captain later recalled how the ship shuddered off the island of Timor (Indonesia). Later analysis showed that the teeth actually belonged to a megalodon. So giant predators are somewhere nearby?
More recently, megalodon teeth began to be found on Baltic beaches - in Otradnoye, Pionersk and Svetlogorsk. Over four years, starting in 2008, about 800 huge teeth that once belonged to prehistoric creatures were found.
Off the coast of Tahiti, a research vessel with a dredge found the teeth of a megalodon that had not yet been fossilized; their age did not exceed 11,000 years. From a geological point of view, animals whose presence remains undiscovered for more than 400,000 years can be considered extinct.
And here it’s only 11,000 years! By the way, the goblin shark was considered extinct back in the Pliocene. Its teeth were not found, its silhouette was not seen, so it was deservedly included in the list of prehistoric fish.
And suddenly, unexpectedly, they found the goblin shark itself, not even its young remains, but a completely alive individual itself. And not even one. The revived relic was floating at great depths. Maybe a megalodon is also swimming somewhere nearby?
If we assume where a giant carnivorous shark could have waited out unfavorable conditions all this time, then most likely paleontologists call the Mariana Trench - the fourth pole of the planet.
Only two people sank to the bottom of the Mariana Gorge. And they saw nothing there except deep-sea invertebrates. After this, ocean sensors and sonars began to explore the depression. They then recorded the movements of massive bodies of strange animals at the bottom. Many scientists believe that surviving representatives of Carcharodon megalodon may well be hiding at great depths.
Moreover, the bottom of the gorge is dotted with the teeth of a prehistoric monster. Paleontologists say that megalodon, like other ancient animals, could wait out unfavorable times here, at the fourth pole of the planet, where active hydrothermal vents erupt. The Mariana Trench is quite a suitable place.
It turns out that periodic rumors that a giant shark was seen somewhere may be true? Perhaps the megalodon was leaving its refuge to make sure that the world above had become quite suitable for existence?
If this is so, very soon, when global warming leads to warming of the world's oceans, we will be able to see the ruler of salt waters again - the huge shark Carcharodon megalodon.
As for the Mariana Trench, according to some ichthyologists, due to the presence of active hydrothermal springs, colonies of prehistoric marine animals that have survived to this day may exist at its bottom.
There is evidence that in 1918, lobster fishermen from the city of Port Stephens (Australia) saw an amazing transparent white fish 35 meters long in the sea. It was clear that this fish had surfaced from great depths. Many researchers believe that the Mariana Trench hides in its unexplored depths the last surviving representatives of the giant prehistoric shark of the species Carcharodon megalodon. Based on the few surviving remains, scientists have recreated the appearance of the megalodon. This predator lived in the seas 2–2.5 million years ago and was of monstrous size: about 24 meters long, weighing 100 tons, and the width of its mouth dotted with 10-centimeter teeth reached 1.8–2.0 m - a megalodon could easily swallow automobile.
Recently, while exploring the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, oceanologists found perfectly preserved teeth of a megalodon. One of the finds was 24 thousand years old, and the other was even younger - 11 thousand years old! So, not all megalodons went extinct 2 million years ago?
During one of the dives in the Mariana Trench area, the German research vehicle Haifish with a crew on board, being at a depth of 7 km, unexpectedly “refused” to surface. Trying to understand the reason for this, the hydronauts turned on the infrared camera. What they saw at first seemed to them a collective hallucination: a huge creature, similar to a prehistoric lizard, grabbed the body of the bathyscaphe with its teeth, trying to chew it like a nut... Having come to their senses, the crew activated a device called an “electric gun.” Struck by a powerful discharge, the monster unclenched its terrible jaws and disappeared into the darkness of the abyss...
The dive of the American unmanned bathyscaphe platform into the abyss of the Mariana Trench has sensationally completed. Equipped with powerful searchlights, highly sensitive sensors and television cameras, it sank into the depths of the ocean using a steel net woven from 20 mm thick cables. After the submersible reached the bottom, cameras and microphones did not record anything significant for several hours. And then suddenly, silhouettes of strange huge bodies flashed on the television monitors in the beams of spotlights. When the device was hastily raised to the surface, part of its structures turned out to be bent.
And in 2004, the British magazine New Scientist spoke in detail about mysterious sounds in the depths of the Pacific Ocean, detected by underwater sensors of the American SOSUS tracking system. It was created during the Cold War to monitor Soviet submarines. Experts who studied the recordings of signals from highly sensitive hydrophones identified, against the background noise representing the “call signs” of various marine inhabitants, a much more powerful sound, clearly emitted by some creature living in the ocean.
This mysterious signal, first recorded in 1977, is much more powerful than the infrasounds with which large whales communicate with each other at a distance of hundreds of kilometers from each other.
The huge Miocene megalodon shark (Carcharodon megalodon) attracts a lot of attention from both scientists and people quite far from paleontology and zoology. The first thing that attracts people about megalodon is, of course, its unimaginable size.
And since only fossilized megalodon teeth have reached us, it is extremely difficult to determine the true size of this sea monster.
However, scientists have one clue: the fact is that the teeth of each type of shark are very different from each other. Among the enormous diversity of the superorder of sharks (Selachimorpha), there are species with teeth of various shapes and sizes, depending on who they hunt and what kind of life this particular species leads. Based on the fossilized teeth of the megalodon known to science, which are surprisingly similar to the teeth of the famous white shark (Carcharodon carcharias), scientists came to the conclusion that this is its closest relative of the species known to science (both extinct and modern) and placed it in the same genus - Carcharodon.
The difference between the teeth of a white shark and a megalodon lies primarily in the much larger size of the latter’s teeth, as well as in their relatively greater massiveness. That is, the ratio of the length of a megalodon’s tooth to its width is somewhat less than that of a white shark, whose teeth are longer relative to their width. The notches on the megalodon’s teeth are less pronounced than those of the white shark, but this is most likely, it seems to me, the result of the great antiquity of the megalodon’s teeth - the notches could have been poorly preserved.
Now let's move on to the main question of this article - what size did Megalodon reach and what was its weight? The most difficult thing here is to determine at least the approximate length of the megalodon. But first, it’s easier to calculate its approximate weight. A megalodon's tooth is larger and therefore about 8 times heavier than a white shark's tooth (See photo below).
A large white shark weighs about 3 tons. Thus, multiplying 3 tons by 8 we get the weight of the megalodon at 24 tons. Now, how to determine the length of the megalodon, which supposedly weighed 24 tons? To do this, we again need to return to the proportions of a white shark. A 3-ton white shark is known to be approximately 6 meters long. Based on this proportion, the length of the megalodon would be twice as long - 12 meters.
I do not presume to say that these are the true dimensions and mass of the megalodon, but in any case they are quite close to the truth. The illustration below only confirms that my calculations are very close to the truth (we, of course, did not collude with the author of this picture). 
In this picture, the length of the megalodon is slightly more than twice the length of the white shark. There is a formula according to which when an animal increases N times, its mass increases N times cubed. Thus, according to this figure, the mass of the megalodon was more than 24 tons, which is very close to my calculations.
So, we found out that the large megalodon was just over 12 meters long and weighed more than 24 tons. It is reasonable to assume that larger megalodons were also encountered, since 6 meters and 3 tons are not at all the limit for an extremely large white shark.
The megalodon's skeleton was made of cartilage rather than bone, so very few remains have survived to this day. Megalodon teeth are the largest fish teeth. Their length reached 18 cm. Among all known sea inhabitants, no one else has such huge teeth. The most similar teeth are those of the white shark, but they are much smaller (3 times). A complete skeleton was not found, only vertebrae. The most famous discovery of a vertebral column belonging to a megalodon was made in Belgium in 1929.
The remains of megalodon have been found all over the globe, even in the famous Mariana Trench at a depth of more than 10 km. Its ubiquity suggests that it was a super predator that lived where it wanted and was at the top of the food chain everywhere.
Megalodon's teeth are so huge that for a long time they were mistaken for the remains of dragons or giant sea serpents. It was only in 1667 that the naturalist Niels Stensen suggested that dragon “stone tongues” were the teeth of a huge shark. The predator took its position in the scientific classification in the mid-19th century. under the name Carcharodon megalodon. Since the megalodon's teeth closely resemble those of the Great White Shark, it was assigned to the same genus Carcharodon, where he remained until the mid-1960s. At first, the Belgian researcher E. Cazier proposed moving Megalodon into a separate genus Procarcharodon, and then the Soviet scientist L. Glickman transferred the predator to the genus Megaselachus. However, Glickman noticed that megalodon teeth come in two types - with jagged edges and without jagged edges. Until 1987, “smooth” and “serrated” teeth moved from one genus to another, until the French scientist and ichthyologist A Capetta assigned Megalodon and its closest species neighbors (with jagged edges) to the genus Carcharocles megalodon. Currently, this classification is accepted by the scientific community.
Megalodon dimensions
Megalodon most closely resembled a great white shark. Since no well-preserved skeleton has been found, scientists can judge its size based on the morphology of the white shark and drawing parallels between the animals. There are several options for calculating the size of a megalodon. Most methods determine the length of an animal based on the calculated proportion between the predator's body and its teeth. Presumably, the body length of the megalodon varied from 13 m (according to J. E. Randall’s method) to 16 m (Gottfried’s method). Some scientists believe that the animal could reach even larger sizes - 25-30 m.
Body weight could reach 47 tons. This makes megalodon the largest fish among all fish known to science.
Megalodon habits
The habits of the megalodon are judged by the found remains of its victims, as well as by the habits of modern large carnivorous sharks. He hunted cetaceans, sperm whales, dolphins, porpoises, and various pinnipeds. It was a superpredator, the victims of which could be any animal at all, although the size of the megalodon implies that it hunted large fish and mammals. The main diet was occupied by cetaceans - bones with traces of megalodon bites were often found among the fossil remains of whales. It is not difficult to identify a megalodon bite - it is huge in size and with characteristic scratches left by the jagged edges of sharp teeth. Sometimes scientists find whale bones with megalodon teeth stuck in them.
Usually sharks attack their prey in vulnerable places, but megalodon apparently acted a little differently. The remains of some megalodon victims showed that the predator rammed its prey. Scientists believe that this is how he broke bones and damaged the internal organs of the victim. After this, the immobilized victim was devoured by the predator. Even if the megalodon's prey was large, the shark always tried to first deprive it of its ability to move, biting off its fins and tail, and only after that it killed and ate it.
Extinction
The reason for the extinction of the predator is not fully known. Scientists have several hypotheses for the extinction of megalodon.
- Decrease in water temperature of the world's oceans. 15-17 million years ago, glaciations in the northern hemisphere and blocking of the sea strait between North and South America led to a decrease in temperature on the planet. Growing glaciers also led to a drop in the water level of the world's oceans. Fossil remains confirm that as water levels dropped and temperatures dropped, the megalodon's habitat moved to warmer regions. The breeding and feeding grounds of basking sharks were also affected.
- Hunger. By the end of the Miocene, most species of baleen whales became extinct. Namely, baleen whales constituted the main diet of megalodon. The surviving species of whales were better adapted to existing habitat conditions, were faster and preferred cool waters. It was difficult for the megalodon to hunt them, and there was no suitable prey to satisfy its colossal appetite.
- Competition with predatory whales. The appearance of schooling predatory mammals that successfully competed with megalodon. The famous killer whales turned out to be more successful hunters. They were faster, hunted all large sea animals, and they themselves were practically invulnerable due to their great speed and intelligence.
Scientists believe that all three factors led to the death of the giant. Cooling of the ocean and lack of nutrition played a significant role in the death of the megalodon, and against the background of this, newly emerging predators finally replaced the significantly thinned ranks of megalodons.
Megalodon is the subject of much speculation that it still exists in the deepest and most remote parts of the world's oceans. Among ordinary people, deep-sea depressions and trenches are considered almost the official homeland of megalodon, and at the same time other sea giants, such as Dunkleosteus. “Documentary” films are made, photographs and stories of “eyewitnesses” are published. All these materials are quickly becoming very popular among viewers and readers. But not a single scientific institute will ever confirm the authenticity of such “facts.” Officially, this predator is considered extinct. In the entire history of mankind, the remains of a megalodon whose age would be younger than 1.5 million years have not been found. And this shark is simply too big to remain invisible.
Although the official position of the scientific community does not stop the “researchers”. Some generally consider the results of a survey among students to be a convincing basis for the existence of megalodon.