Guide Note: The
Carcharodon Megalodon or C. Megalodon lived for 16 million years through the
Miocene time period to the
Pliocene. Many scientists believe that the megalodon is a close relative of the
Great White Shark that exists today while other scientists feel that they come from two different shark families.
When it was alive it thrived in oceans the world of over as evident from teeth that have been found in Europe, North America, South America, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Africa, Malta and India.
In August, 2007 a 16-year-old boy found a tooth belonging to a Megalodon in Port Huron, Michigan but it's believed that the tooth was found where it was because of human intervention and not because Megalodon had once lived there in ancient times.
Their extinction can not be blamed on just one factor but instead several factors combined, scientists have hypothesized. They feel that glaciation that cooled waters all over the world effected the Megalodon. Also, they feel that the extinction of some of the main food supplies of the shark contributed to their demise along with the convergence of certain bodies of land that cut off the Tethyan Seaway creating the Mediterranean Sea, Black Sea, Caspian Sea and Aral Sea.
Some have claimed that they have seen Megalodons today. Scientists say that these sitings are just misidentified Basking Sharks, Whale Sharks and Submarines.
There have been many books and films made about C. Megalodon over the years.
Fast Facts:
- Length: 60 Feet
- Weight: More then 20 tons
- Had to eat up to 2 tons of their weight daily
- Diet: Cetotherium, Sperm Whales, Odobenocetops, Pinnipeds, Sirenians and Dolphins
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