Megalodon

From TinWiki.org

The Megalodon was a shark said to have lived 25 to 1.6 million years ago during the Miocene and Pliocene epochs. Some professional paleontologists think this great beast is a relation of the Great White Shark although this is still being hotly debated to this day.

Contents 1 Description 2 Fossils 3 Diet 4 Debate 5 Existence in modern era 5.1 Eyewitness accounts 6 External links 7 Relevant discussion threads

Description

This giant shark was thought to have been 40 feet (12 m) long or even more. Some scientists also believe that it could have been as large as 50 or 100 feet (15.5 or 31 m) long, this is three times the size of the Great White Shark in our waters today. The Megalodons jaw is thought to be 6 feet (1.8 m) wide and 7 feet (2.1 m) high, and its teeth were much like a Great White only thicker and bigger resembling a broad 'D' in cross-section; the serration’s are much smaller and more regular. It is hard to imagine what this mammoth shark would have looked like as no other fossilized parts have been found but it is thought that it may have been similar to the Great White shark only a stream line version again scientists can only speculate.

Fossils

Fossilized teeth and vertebrae were found and examined by scientists and one single tooth from this giant shark is reported to be the size of a human hand. Shark fossils are extremely rare because sharks have no bones, only cartilage, which does not fossilize well. Teeth on the other hand are made from a bone-like material coated with hard enamel, which fossilize very well. Fossils of this mammoth shark have been found in Europe, India, Oceania (the general area around Australia including New Zealand, New Caledonia, etc.), North America, and South America.

Diet

The Megalodon's diet was thought to have consisted mostly of the Whales that were around at that time. Fossilized whale vertebrae and flipper bones have been found with huge bite marks made by teeth that look like the Megalodon's.

Debate

There are two main thoughts on the Megalodon shark,

1. It is thought that due to the many similarities some scientists believe that The Great White shark is a direct descendant of the Megalodon and that this ancient shark should be categorized in the same. Family as the Great White.
2. Another school of thought is that the similarities between the two sharks are due to convergence and therefore the modern sharks of today including the Great White are not direct descendants of the Megalodon.

Both sides are firmly at loggerheads between their opposing views and it is not though that a consensus will be reached anytime soon.

Existence in modern era

It is thought by many zoologists and paleontologists that is mega shark died out approximately 1.6 million years ago, many cryptozoologists and other researchers still believe that this ancient beast may still actually exist in the deep seas or in remote parts of the world. This is mainly due to a small body of evidence; these include eyewitness accounts, unfossilized and recently fossilized Megalodons teeth and the discovery of the Megamouth shark in 1976. Those that oppose this theory have said that the evidence is weak and that the suggestion of present-day survival of. Megalodon does not conform to accepted paleontological and ecological knowledge. Supposed eyewitness accounts and the theory on the recently fossilized teeth.

Eyewitness accounts

1. Eyewitness Accounts from The Cryptozoology Review
2. Eyewitness Accounts from Strangemag

External links

• EnchantedLearning - Megalodon
• Reconstructing Megalodon
• The Origin of Megalodon
• BBC Science & Nature - Megalodon Fact File
• A Critical Evaluation of the Supposed Contemporary Existence of Carcharodon megalodon
• Does Megalodon Still Exist?

Relevant discussion threads

• Please tell me this is fake!
• Scientists dredge up vestige of chilling monster