Megalodon disappeared 2-3 million years ago. But why did megalodon go extinct? How do we know megalodon went extinct? Is there evidence that these prehistoric sharks still exist? A marine biologist reacts to the evidence.
00:00 - Facts About the Megalodon Shark
01:53 - Megalodon Teeth
03:50 - What Did Megalodon Eat?
05:16 - How Do We Know Megalodon is Extinct?
06:05 - Megalodon Fact VS Fiction
07:07 - Is Megalodon Hiding in the Mariana Trench?
08:16 - Animals Previously Believed to Be Extinct
Orcas Caught On Film Eating Great White Sharks → https://youtu.be/SRdHMG7mQ90
How Big Are Great White Sharks? → https://youtu.be/bYyiVlroMu4
Is Steller's Sea Cow Still Alive? → https://youtu.be/waKqbOzJyKE
I’m a marine biologist who specializes in marine mammals. Why is someone who specializes in marine mammals is talking about a prehistoric shark? Because this prehistoric shark ate marine mammals. We know this from the fossil record. Megalodon lived from the Miocene to Pliocene epochs, which was roughly 23 million years ago to about 2.5 million years ago. And we have an extensive collection of marine fossils from this time period, particularly in certain regions, with a notable increase in the diversity and abundance of fossils compared to earlier epochs.
The most common megalodon fossils are teeth. There are thousands of high quality megalodon teeth being studied around the world. And we can learn a lot from these teeth. For one, we can estimate megalodon’s size. We can also learn where it lived, what time it lived, and even what it ate. These large teeth leave distinctive cut marks, just like a fingerprint. And this fingerprint has been found on countless whale fossils.
Cited Sources:
[1] https://gcaptain.com/megalodon-shark-ruled-the-seas-heres-why-it-went-extinct/
[2] https://deepseanews.com/2017/12/how-we-know-megalodon-doesnt-still-exist/
[3] https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-30528-9
[4] https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Fossil-occurrences-of-Otodus-megalodon-and-Pacific-records-of-cetacean-ear-bones-Blue_fig4_376528263
[5] https://www.thefossilforum.com/topic/132079-whale-fossil-with-megalodon-bite-marks/
[6] https://phys.org/news/2022-06-ancient-sperm-whale-relatives-sharks.html
[7] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:VMNH_megalodon.jpg
[8] https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3100780/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
[9] https://www.deviantart.com/paleonerd01/art/Largest-reliably-measured-great-white-shark-1008653159
[10] https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/megalodon--the-truth-about-the-largest-shark-that-ever-lived.html
[11] https://energyeducation.ca/encyclopedia/Geologic_time_scale
[12] https://palaeo-electronica.org/content/2021/3284-estimating-lamniform-body-size
[13] https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/feature-story/new-research-reveals-full-diversity-killer-whales-two-species-come-view-pacific-coast
[14] https://www.sciencealert.com/surprise-discovery-reveals-theres-3-different-kinds-of-great-white-shark
[15] https://www.theguardian.com/environment/georgemonbiot/2014/feb/21/discovery-channel-giant-shark-documentary-george-monbiot
[16] https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/arts-and-entertainment/wp/2018/07/26/a-fake-shark-week-documentary-about-megalodons-caused-controversy-why-is-discovery-bringing-it-up-again/
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