What was the megalodon, the biggest shark that ever lived like?

About 2.6 million years ago, megalodons (or megalodons) terrorized the seas and oceans, and are believed to be the largest sharks that ever lived on Earth. They were also the biggest predators in vertebrate history. It is not surprising that they have been baptized as “the worst nightmare of the prehistoric world”.

O awesome.club wants to share with his readers everything he has discovered about this magnificent and terrifying animal now extinct.

This gigantic aquatic animal lived during the Neogene period, and paleontologists believe that the size of a megalodon varied between 16 and 18 meters, which is equivalent to 3 adult white sharks or almost 2 city buses or a human tower of 6 or 7 people. , and its weight could vary between 70 and 100 thousand kilograms, that is, it was as heavy as 14 adult elephants, 2 buses or 33 adult white sharks. Regarding their food, thanks to their huge teeth, it could devour medium to large aquatic animals: seals, dolphins and even whales.

The parts found from the megalodon fossils allow us to have a good clarity of what this animal was like. How did the experts calculate the size of the megalodon based solely on its teeth? Ichthyologist John E. Randall used the proportions of the largest upper teeth, jaw height and enamel height of a great white shark as a model. Later, a replica of the megalodon jaw was created. The width of the megalodon’s jaw reached 2 meters, with a total of 276 teeth in five rows. And its bite force was about 18.5 thousand kilos.

A curious fact is that during the Renaissance, the teeth of the megalodon were confused by the tips of fossilized dragons and snakes’ tongues.

The first theory about the megalodon extinction referred to climate change, but it was discarded.

As soon as specialized researchers discarded the theory of climate change, it was concluded that the medalogons became extinct due to the fight for food.

Even though the megalodon vastly surpassed the size and strength of other marine animals, great white sharks and orcas were more agile than colossal megalodons and could survive on far less food. This immense animal needed to eat approximately 1,100 kilograms of meat every day. To get an idea of ​​how much that would be, it is estimated that a person eats 227 kilos of meat per year. In addition, its competitors could live in the cold waters, from which the megalodons kept away.

But let’s imagine: what would you do if you found an animal as big as this while diving? Have you ever seen a huge aquatic animal? Tell in the comments!