10 Unbelievable Facts About The Biggest Shark Ever
It won’t be wrong to say that sharks are among the most feared creatures on Earth and
you don’t need us to tell you why that is!
They have been known to gobble the mightiest of humans in one go or bite off their limbs,
enough reason to be frightened.
But what if we told you that those sharks are nothing as compared to Megalodon?
The largest shark ever to exist in the Earthly waters was way ahead of white sharks, the
current terror!
Proceed with caution to unveil some startling facts about this sea monster, it might leave
you petrified!
Number 10.
Largest predator Megalodon was not only the biggest shark but
was also the largest predator to have lived on the planet!
As per the fossils of the giant, it would have been around 50-70 feet in length and
that is 3 times of what you see in the great white!
On the grounds of weight the comparison between the two is even more bizarre, where the great
white weighed around 3.5 tons; the Megalodon must have been around 60 tons.
It scares us!
Number 9.
Massive teeth The Megalodon’s teeth could be as large
as 7 inches in length and 4 inches in width.
Did that not scare you?
On comparison, the giant white didn’t stand anywhere near it with its tiny 3 inch teeth!
To actually beat the giant shark, you’ll have to go back to the age where the famous
Tyrannosaurus rex lived with his 11 inch long teeth.
Now are you shocked?
Well you shouldn’t be because the name Megalodon itself is proof of its mighty teeth, which
comes from 2 Greek words, megas meaning big and odont meaning tooth!
Number 8.
The most powerful bite Megalodon with its 7 inch teeth coupled with
a huge jaw measuring 11 feet in width and 9 feet in length has the most powerful bite
ever.
You would expect nothing less from the sea giant!
Its bite force was between 24,000 to 40,000 pounds which is 6 to 10 times of what the
great white can ever muster!
Even the good old T-rex could manage no more than 12,800 pounds, so you know who the daddy
is!
Number 7.
Whales for lunch This giant shark had a diet that suited its
title of a predator.
It relished a mouthful of prehistoric whales like the sperm whale, humpback whales, minke
whales and bowhead whales in addition to some turtles, dolphins, squids, etc.
Going by its huge size, it needed about a ton of food per day to sustain itself, we
really can’t call it a mouthful, sorry for the mistake!
Number 6.
World Wide distribution It is believed that the giant Megalodon lived
across the globe in areas of North and South America, Africa, Europe, Cuba, Australia,
Jamaica, Japan, Malta, India, New Zealand and so on.
No, we have not fantasized it people!
The teeth fossils of this gigantic shark have been found all over the world which proves
that it had a wide distribution which maybe dependent on availability of food and warmer
temperatures.
So with the extinction of Megalodon, we guess the entire planet sighs of relief!
Number 5.
Megalodon nursery areas The giant sea predator preferred shallow waters
as a nursery for its young.
This has been deduced on the basis of fossil teeth that have been found in concentration
at some areas.
These teeth were about 1.5 inch in length which point towards the fact that they belong
to baby Megalodon.
Do you think that’s cute?
Even the babies were as large as the largest great white shark!
Their cute nurseries have been found in the Calvert Cliffs in Maryland, Bone Valley Region
of Florida and recently in Gatum Foundation of Panama.
Number 4.
Unbelievable jaw structure Through research it has been found that the
Megalodon has 5 rows of teeth in its jaw that acted like a conveyer belt so that the lost
teeth could be replaced within 48 hours.
The giant shark had about 276 teeth at a time with about thousands of teeth through the
course of its lifetime.
Also the fossil teeth were mostly worn at the tips that could represent being hit into
a bone or teeth while feeding.
No wonder its prey had no choice but to become its dinner!
Number 3.
Tongue stones Sharks constantly shed teeth and when you
talk of the great Megalodon, you can well imagine how many teeth it can shed throughout
its life!
What we are coming towards is that they have always been in abundance around our world
but were seen as the tongues of dragons which turned into stones after being cut.
It was because of this that they were called tongue stones before Nicholas Steno studied
them in 17th century and came to a conclusion that they were shark teeth.
Does that make him the first palaeontologist?
Number 2.
Evolution From where has the Megalodon evolved has been
a constant debate.
Some believe it to be closely related to the great white shark and thus have put them under
the same genus, but many disagree to it.
Some researchers point out the existence of Otodus shark some 60 million years ago which
was around 30 feet in length, 1.5 times larger than the biggest white shark.
Otodus was also widely spread and had similar teeth to that of Megalodon.
Not much is known of this prehistoric shark and thus it can’t surely be concluded that
these two have a relation.
Number 1.
Extinction Just like many other prehistoric animals,
Megalodon vanished from Earth when climate conditions changed.
The giant sea creature could not sustain in cold waters that is why it stayed away from
Polar Regions and stayed in warmer waters for child birth.
It can be said that things became tough for Megalodon when temperatures fell.
While it moved towards warmer waters, the whales that were its food moved towards the
colder areas, which led to its extinction 2.6 million years ago.
We can all support cold climate now!
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