Hello and welcome back to Life’s Biggest Questions, I’m Ron McKenzie-Lefurgey.
The Megalodon was an enormous aquatic carnivore from the Early Miocene era to the end of the
Pliocene.
It was a superpredator that preyed on everything from whales to turtles, using its powerful
jaws to bite through just about anything in the sea.
But what if these enormous beasts didn’t go extinct 2.6 million years ago, but remained
to this day?
Let’s explore.
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Now get ready, it’s time to ask the question: What if Megalodons Didn’t Go Extinct?
First of all, let’s go over some quick facts about Megalodons so we’re all on the same
page.
The name megalodon comes from the Greek, meaning "Big Tooth", and with teeth over 6 inches
in length, the name does not lie.
The megalodon looked something like a beefed up great white shark, which is part of why
some scientists believe them to be closely related.
Reaching roughly 60 feet, or 18 metres in length, this beast would be among the largest
in the ocean, even longer than a city bus.
Due to its powerful jaws, able to bite with over 180,000 newtons of force, it's believed
that the Megalodon attacked its prey from the side, biting through its body into its
vital organs, rather than attacking from beneath like a great white shark.
This creature was built to hunt, and was an extremely successful predator, preying mostly
on large creatures like whales, seals, and giant turtles.
But if these creatures were so incredibly fit for their surroundings, how did they end
up going extinct?
Let’s look into it, since this could help us understand them, and understand the necessary
changes to the world in order for them to survive.
Climate change certainly played a factor in its extinction.
Not the man-made climate change we've seen in recent years, but the natural, much more
gradual change that has been seen throughout the history of the earth.
Global cooling made it more difficult for them to survive in many climates.
However, as the temperature changed, many migrated to more suitable areas.
However, this climate change had another effect that did lead to the extinction of the megalodon.
By the end of the Miocene, many of the species the megalodon preyed on had gone extinct,
and those that survived were more difficult to catch.
The lack of food, and competition with other superpredators, led to the extinction of the
Megalodon.
So, if we’re imagining a world where Megalodons didn’t go extinct, we would need the food
sources, particularly the mysticetes or Baleen Whales, to not go extinct either.
This means that not only would our world have enormous sharks swimming around, but whales
would be more diverse and abundant as well.
This in turn would mean that smaller fish and krill would have to be more abundant,
to feed the whales, which in turn would feed the Megalodon.
But that’s not all.
The increase in mysticetes would mean that other species of superpredators could also
survive.
This means that we wouldn’t only have to worry about the megalodon, but other large
creatures as well.
All this is to say that the addition of the megalodon would Make Waves, in the ocean’s
ecosystems.
Pun very much intended.
But there’s another rather pressing question to answer: how would this affect us?
Well, if we’re looking at how early humans would interact with Megalodons, we could look
at the video game Ark.
If you play Ark, you’ll know that these pesky prehistoric sharks love to strand low
level players on islands.
There’s nothing more frustrating than swimming to an island only to find yourself surrounded
by Megalodons.
And this is something that could well have been an issue in the early days of humanity.
Since they tended to reside off the coast, even a trip on a raft or small boat could
lead to an attack.
However, there were already large, dangerous creatures in the ocean at that time, and the
edition of another likely wouldn’t have huge effects on humanity’s travels across
the ocean.
Nowadays, the existence of Megalodons wouldn’t have a huge effect on humanity as a whole.
It would certainly be interesting, albeit terrifying, to see a living one, but we have
progressed to the point where we don’t really depend on seafaring on small vessels.
Perhaps there would be the odd story of a megalodon attack off the coast, which would
of course make the headlines, but the actual odds of this happening would be rather slim.
And now we return to our question: What if Megalodons Didn’t Go Extinct?
Well, if the Megalodon was to survive, sea life would likely need to be more diverse
and abundant, in order to feed all members of the ecosystem.
In terms of its impacts on humanity, it might have been quite terrifying in man’s early
days, but modern humans likely wouldn’t have much trouble with it.
That said, I don’t know about you, but I might think twice about going into the water,
knowing there could be a bus with teeth waiting for me.
Thank you for watching Life’s Biggest Questions, I hope this was interesting and informative,
and maybe even inspired you to look into it further on your own.
If you liked this video, please thumbs up and subscribe to the channel down below.
While you’re down there, let me know what you would do if you had a pet Megalodon.
Until next time, I’m Ron McKenzie-Lefurgey with Life’s Biggest Questions, wishing you
the best of luck, on your quest for answers.