The 50-ton Megalodon was the biggest shark to have ever existed.
But that doesn't mean it didn't have rivals.
Here are 8 prehistoric creatures that may have been enemies of the Megalodon!!
8.
Cetotherium Whales and sharks honestly don't get along,
mainly because one is passive more times than not, and sharks are usually aggressive hunters.
But in the past, whales were very different than those we have today.
The closest thing would be the orca, but they aren't even whales.
Back in the days of the megalodon, there were many large whales with gigantic teeth and
no fear.
One of these rivals was probably the Cetotherium.
In terms of timeline, the Cetotherium lived between the Mid-Miocene period and the and
the early Pliocene period, which, is when the Megalodon lived, so the possibility of
these two butting heads is very probable.
Now, if you look at the length of the Cetotherium, you're going to find a problem.
Mainly...it was only 15 feet long (based on the fossils found of the creature.
As such, the Megalodon was basically 5x its size.
So how is it that a small whale could contend with a big shark?
They had large, sharp teeth and a will to survive!!
They could do some damage against the Megalodon.
However, they would most likely choose not to go head to head and avoid the megalodon
completely!
They lived near the surface of the ocean, and would usually stay out of range.
If it came to a fight, more times than not, the Megalodon would be victorious.
Life's tough when a gigantic shark is trying to eat you!!
7.
Zygophyseter Varolai Try saying that five times fast.
While the Zygophyseter Varolai may be a mouthful to say, it does have a more simplistic nickname...the
"Killer Sperm Whale", and one look at its teeth will show you why that name is pretty
accurate.
Just as fascinating is that we didn’t even know the Zygophyseter Varolai existed until
2005!
That year, paleontologists and geologists came across an almost complete skeleton in
southern Italy.
It was similar to the modern day sperm whale except for the fact that it had gigantic teeth!!
This animal lived during the late Miocene period, 11.2 to 7.6 million years ago, meaning
that it would have overlapped with the Megalodon.
As for why it's called a "Killer Sperm Whale", it's because it's related to both Orcas (Killer
Whales) and Sperm Whales.
The teeth that were found demonstrated similar wear and tear to that of killer whales.
Due to its body type, it's believed that the Zygophyseter Varolai was a master of using
echolocation to find and hunt down its prey.
When it found something, it would then latch onto them with its teeth, which could range
from 6-10 inches long.
For the record, this is larger than modern Great White Sharks.
They are estimated to have grown between 6.5 to 7 meters (21-23 feet) long, so it is believed
the Megalodon may have come after them.
To counter though, because of their echolocation skills, it's very likely that they would've
sensed the shark coming, and prepared itself for battles.
Its teeth could have definitely done some serious damage against the Megalodon.
But would it have been enough to beat one down entirely?
Maybe.
If it was anywhere near as smart as the killer whale, it could have been quite successful
in defending itself.
And now for number 6, but first, if you are new here welcome!
And be sure to subscribe!
We have lots of new videos coming up.
6.
Aulophyseter You rarely hear the word "predatory whale"
in modern times, since we usually think of whales as peaceful creatures.
But sometimes people use the term to describe sperm whales or orcas, or during the Miocene
period, the Aulophyseter.
This was a whale that prided itself on its predatory ability.
This extinct genus of sperm whale weighed around 1,100 kg (2400 lb) and had measured
about 6.5 meters long.
It was related to other predatory whales that existed at the time such as Acrophyseter and
the Livyatan.
Fossils have been found on both coasts of the United States.
Interestingly enough, during Miocene Period, Central America was underwater.
As such, the Aulophyseter would actually travel between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans through
what is now known as the Central American Seaway.
This seaway was a popular hunting ground for Megalodons, and because the Aulophyseter was
only around 6.5 meters long, the shark no doubt tried to hunt it down!!
After all, the Megalodon could grow to around 10-15 meters.
But here's the catch, the Aulophyseter's were no fools, they liked to travel in groups.
So if a Megalodon would go after one, the rest of the pod would fight back, and because
they all had teeth, they could take big chunks out of the shark if they were quick enough.
There has always been strength in numbers!
As a side note, as sea levels dropped and Panama broke through the water, it closed
off the Central American Seaway.
This led to the death of many of these prehistoric whales and their predators.
5.
Brygmophyseter Shigensis Also known as the “biting sperm whale”,
it is the case of another whale only known to exist because of a nearly complete skeleton
that was found.
While some pieces were missing, it was enough to prove that Brygmophyseter Shigensis was
a real thing, and the only species to exist under the Brygmophyseter genus.
For now, you know, these things are always changing!!
They existed about 14 million years ago, but it is hard to estimate since only one has
been found, but they would have been a major apex predator!!
It’s believed to measure about 7 meters long (23 ft) and had a massive mouth full
of teeth.
It was related to other types of whales that I’ve mentioned that all belong to the macroraptorial
sperm whales that all had large mouths full of teeth!!
They were all scary!
It is believed they use biosonar like modern sperm whales.
It could weaponize sonar to stun its prey and then eat them quickly.
It ate a lot of other marine mammals similar to killer whales, but it most likely wasn’t
very picky!
While the Brygmophyseter Shigensis was found in the waters around present day Japan, since
Megalodons have been found pretty much everywhere in the world, they easily could have met.
And like most creatures in the water, the Megalodon would've seen the 23 foot whale
as a meal.
However, using echolocation, Brygmophyseter Shigensis could've seen it coming, and since
they travelled in pods, they could team up to scare the shark away.
However, any weak or wounded would have been a great catch for a megalodon.
You can see a recreation of the biting sperm whale on History Channel’s Jurassic Fight
Club.
Has anyone seen this show?
What did you think of it?
4.
Rhamphosuchus In the modern world, crocodiles have been
documented to be pretty long, with many getting over 20 feet (6m) in length.
But in the prehistoric world, there was a crocodile species that got much bigger than
that!!!
The Rhamphosuchus.
To be clear, the fossil record for the Rhamphosuchus is more incomplete than you might think.
In fact, there's no complete fossil for the creature, and most of what we know has been
recreated from incomplete skulls and teeth.
It is believed to have grown to around 8-11 meters (26-36 ft) but could have even reached
18 (59ft) meters long!
That's well over the largest crocodile to have ever lived in the modern world.
One of the biggest things to separate Rhamphosuchus from modern crocodiles is its ability to swim
like a true predator of the oceans.
This creature was quick, and it used its long tail to help guide it through the waters and
make quick turns.
Which is good, because it's very likely to have done battle with Megalodons during its
life on Earth.
Why do I say that?
They hunted similar food groups, and would have coincided at times on the same hunting
grounds.
While the Megalodon was big, the Rhamphosuchus had speed, and its mouth and snout was so
long that it could have used hit-and-run tactics to get shots in on the massive shark.
3.
Leviathan Melvillei There are many legends in the ocean, and one
of the most prominent ones is a creature called the Leviathan, a giant biblical sea monster.
But guess what?
This technically wasn't a legend, because fossil hunters in Europe came across one of
the biggest predators that ever lived.
Scientists decided to call the creature Leviathan Melvillei- melvillei in honor of Herman Melville,
the author of Moby Dick.
However, it is now also known as Livyatan Melvillei as it turns out the name “Leviathan”
was already given to an obscure, prehistoric elephant.
But many people use both terms interchangeably and many articles still refer to it as the
Leviathan as it seems appropriate!
Unlike our sperm whales of today, the Leviathan Melvillei lived around 13 million years ago
and had gigantic teeth.
Paleontologist Olivier Lambert from the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences says
that the teeth were so large they looked like elephant tusks.
They were about 15 inches (38 cm) long, 4-5 inches (10-12 cm) wide at the base.
The mouth alone was 2.7 meters long (9 feet).
With that mouth and those teeth, they attacked all kinds of creatures in the sea, including
going after sharks, and of course, other whales.
This was an aggressive whale, and it was believed measure about 43 feet (13 meters) to 59 feet
(18 meters).
There's actually some debate about whether the Livyatan Melvillei or the Megalodon was
the true Apex Predator of the oceans, because both had the ability to hold that title.
After all, the leviathan was 60 feet long, about the size of a Megalodon, so it was one
of the true creatures that could go head to head.
Whether it actually did though is entirely unclear, but given how Megalodon's were all
over the world, it's not out of the realm of possibility.
So what happened to all of these giant, aggressive, biting sperm whales??
Being top predator is difficult, yand as the climate cooled during the late miocene era,
around 10 million years ago, many of these guys disappeared, making way for smaller marine
predators, such as the killer whale.
2.
Megalodon Surprised?
You wouldn't be if you knew one of the darker secrets about shark life...many shark species
are cannibals.
Or, they have the ability to eat their fellow shark should they be in a pinch.
Which is actually one reason why the Megalodon's were cannibals, they needed a lot of food.
It's not hard to see why either.
Estimates place this shark at about 18 m (60 feet) long, like the Livyatan and they weighed
a lot!
To move around in the ocean, and hunt, and survive, it needed a lot of food.
Some experts say that it had to consume 2500 pounds of food a day just to keep going.
While the ocean is full of life, getting that much can be difficult, even if you only eat
whales and fatty, blubberous mammals!
During the end of its time on Earth, there was a lot of competition for food, and along
with climate change, conditions changed making life in the sea for these large creatures
a challenge.
So in desperation, it turned to cannibalism, which hurried along its own extinction.
So one of the biggest enemies of the megalodon was itself!
1.
Did it really even have enemies?
It's important to ask this question because to some scientists and researchers, the idea
of the Megalodon shark having any enemies at all is kind of ridiculous.
After all, this was a shark that was between 60-90 feet long, had the bite strength of
a T-Rex, and could rip just about anything in the water to shreds.
So, could such a beast even have a threat under the water?
The answer is it’s hard to say for sure.
In theory, we do know about creatures in the water of the prehistoric world that most definitely
had the ABILITY to CHALLENGE the Megalodon...but whether they were full-on enemies or rivals
is a bit up in the air.
After all, we only have the fossils we find that give us clues as to what these animals
were like and what may have happened in the prehistoric oceans.
There's honestly no way of definitively knowing how many of these creatures actually interacted
with each other, or how often.
We dont even know how big the megalodon actually was!
Also, when it comes to fossils, only a small percentage of animals actually leave them
behind.
Finding underwater creatures is especially hard because over time the sea floor shifts
and changes all the time.
So to that end, there could (theoretically) have been a creature in the oceans back then
that was more menacing and powerful than the Megalodon, we just don't know about it yet.
Thanks for watching!
Do you think any of these creatures were true threats to the Megalodon?
Let me know in the comments below.
Be sure to subscribe, and I'll see you next time!