The megalodon shark, whose photo is often published by publications for naturalists, was one of the largest and most dangerous underwater predators. For more than 14 million years, she was the sovereign ruler of the seas and oceans of our planet. Nevertheless, almost 1.6 million years ago, the huge shark megalodon mysteriously disappeared. On Earth, only its youngest and smaller cousin remained - the white shark, which today still causes mixed feelings - admiration, curiosity, fear.
External features
A wide skull, a short snout and huge jaws - a giant predator resembled a huge pig. Interestingly, the shark skeleton megalodon did not consist of bones, but of cartilage. For a long time, researchers mistook large teeth for the bones of large dragons or snakes.
Reconstruction
Unfortunately, the full-fledged remains of an ancient shark were not preserved in the world, with the exception of teeth and vertebrae. For this reason, one can judge how the megalodon shark looked like, only by reconstructions of this creature, which scientists resort to, comparing the ancient predator with a large white shark.
The first such attempt was made by the Museum of Natural History (USA) at the very beginning of the 20th century. The jaw recreated by him exceeded three meters, and the size of the megalodon shark, according to scientists, was about 30 meters. This is an impressive figure.
In 1973, J.E. Randall, in the course of research, concluded: the megalodon shark reached 13 meters. Research continued.
In 1996, M. D. Gottfried, with a group of scientists, came to the conclusion that the ancient megalodon shark had a body length of 16 to 20 meters, and its weight was 47 tons.
The habits of megalodon
It is believed that these underwater predators feed on small prey. However, the megalodon shark (photo posted in this article), due to its gigantic size, incredibly strong and powerful jaws and teeth, preferred to eat larger prey. The discovered remains give scientists reason to argue that the ancient predators fed on cetaceans - bowhead whales, sperm whales, dolphins, cetoterias, sirens, porpoises, sea turtles.
Today, a huge number of bones of whales have been discovered, on which traces of deep scratches are clearly visible, as if left by large teeth. Researchers are confident that megalodone teeth left such marks. Moreover, next to many such remains, the teeth themselves were discovered.
Hunting
Sharks are typically predators using a sophisticated hunting strategy. Megalodon was an exception in this sense: due to the gigantic size of his body, he was not able to develop too high a speed, his stamina was quite limited. Researchers are convinced that the megalodon shark hunted using ambushes, patiently waiting for the victim to approach. There are versions that this predator could go on a ram, and then he killed and ate prey. B. Kent is sure that such large and powerful teeth of ancient fish were able to break bones, damage the vital organs of their victims.
Causes of extinction
It is believed that the megalodon shark died out several million years ago. Experts disagree about this event - from 1.6 to 3 million years ago. Scientists consider the main reason for the disappearance of these giants is the lack of food and competition with other animals. In addition, global climate change could be the cause of the death of the megalodon shark. Why?
Cetaceans that inhabited the warm shallow waters of the shelf seas were the basis of the diet of the monster shark megalodon. During the cooling period (in the Pliocene), water was chained by glaciers, and the shelf seas disappeared. In the oceans, the water became colder, which could not but affect the megalodons.
Another of the probable reasons for their extinction, experts call the appearance on the planet of toothed whales - the ancestors of the current killer whales. These animals had a more developed brain and lived in large flocks. The huge sizes of megalodons did not allow them to maneuver in water, therefore, most likely, they were subjected to killer whale attacks.
Megalodon in the 21st century
This may seem unbelievable, but some scientists from around the world are convinced that the megalodon shark has not died out, and its descendants today live on our planet. In favor of this statement, they cite some facts that the main part of the scientific world seem controversial. They believe that due to the fact that today no more than 10% of the world's oceans are explored, ancient sharks may be hiding in parts that have not yet been explored.
In 2014, several orbital complexes from several countries recorded large underwater objects located at relatively shallow depths near the island of Papua (New Guinea). These objects had a number of features:
- they did not have shapes and dimensions that would correspond to one or another military means;
- were not too active and periodically completely plunged into the ocean depths;
- for ordinary biological forms they were too large;
- for a long time lurked in the depths, which denies the version of their analogy with whales.
Scientists have come to an identical opinion on this issue, although they express it rather carefully: these unusual objects in terms of behavior and shape can be sharks of gigantic proportions. Nowadays, not a single great white shark has reached more than 16 meters in length. Therefore, with a high degree of probability, the detected objects can be considered descendants of the megalodon shark. In addition, they were discovered at the Mariana Trench - the place where the ancient sharks supposedly inhabited.
In addition, paleontologists and ichthyologists discovered the remains of a predator that did not have time to completely petrify. Adherents of the idea of preserving this giant believe that this shark can live only at great depths. The gills supply it with oxygen, so it can be quite comfortable at great depths.
The death of large whales
In favor of ambiguous arguments in favor of the surviving megalodon, there are cases of the death of very large whales in the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. Several times a year, military and industrial sailors find the bodies of dead whales that surround flocks of sharks. Twice in such situations, scientists were able to partially study these carcasses, determining the cause of animal death. And in both episodes, amazing reasons were discovered - the animals died from the bites of giant jaws.
The shapes of these bites corresponded to the structure of the shark's jaws, but had a slight difference - the third upper tooth did not belong to the white shark, it was identified as the tooth of the extinct shark megalodon.
Interesting Facts
- The megalodon whale shark cut off its fin before killing its prey. This deprived the victim of the opportunity to escape.
- Computer simulations confirm the theory of scientists that the megalodon hunting style is very different from modern white sharks.
- The classification of megalodone today causes a lot of discussion in the scientific community. Some of its representatives argue that the closest relative of the giant may well be a white shark with a similar body structure and some behavioral characteristics. Other paleontologists do not share this view. They argue that the external similarity of megalodon and the white shark is associated with evolutionary processes - the tendency of heterogeneous organisms to acquire similar forms, developing under similar conditions.
- The teeth of megalodon, as we have already said, have long been considered stones. Thousands of shark teeth fall out during the lives of these predators, and new ones grow in their place. The teeth of this ancient shark were discovered around the world several centuries ago. But only in the XVII century, the doctor Nicholas Steno identified unusual sea stones as shark teeth. For this reason, some historians confer Sten the title of the first paleontologist in the world.
- Unlike most sharks, as well as marine reptiles of the Cenozoic and Mesozoic era, in which the habitat was limited by coastlines or internal rivers and lakes of individual continents, megalodon was distributed globally, attacking and destroying whales in the warm waters of the oceans almost around the world. Researchers are sure that the only limiting factor from approaching the coastal zone of adults was their huge size, which made them completely helpless in shallow water.
- Despite the fact that there are many versions, the true causes of the extinction of megalodon are not known. It was the largest, ruthless and extremely dangerous highest predator of the Miocene and Pliocene eras. Perhaps these giant monsters were ruined by global cooling during the last ice age or the disappearance of huge whales, which made up the bulk of their diet.
- Megalodon possessed the most powerful bite force. In 2008, a group of scientists from the United States and Australia conducted computer simulations to establish the power of a megalodon bite. The results have amazed even experienced paleontologists. If the modern white shark is able to compress its jaws with a force of up to 1.8 tons, then the victims of megalodon had to experience a bite with a capacity of 10.8 to 18.2 tons. This was quite enough to crush the skull of a huge prehistoric whale. Such a bite was significantly stronger than the bite of a famous tyrannosaurus.
To summarize
The giant shark has left many secrets and mysteries that paleontologists have yet to solve. It is likely that scientists will be able to shed light on the life of mysterious predators and find out the reason for their disappearance. Perhaps the descendants of these sharks live in the depths of the ocean today? Sooner or later, all these secrets will be revealed.