Megalodon Was MUCH Bigger Than We Thought

[Music] the largest and most ferocious predator to ever haunt the oceans the megalodon shark dominated the seas for centuries before becoming extinct millions of years ago however scientists managed to discover very few remnants of the giant shark everything we know about the great sea beast we've learned thanks to fossils of his giant teeth which are just about the size of the average human hand scientists estimated the size of the prehistoric shark using calculations based on the measurement of the length of a megalodon tooth on average the size of a megalodon shark was 33 feet long the largest of the species could reach up to 58 feet long however these mega sharks may have been even bigger than we ever thought at the florida museum of natural history a group of students examined 3d printed replicas of megalodon teeth to calculate the shark's size using the tooth length method but something was off each student calculated a different size for the same shark with their estimates ranging from 40 feet to 180 feet a lead paleontologist took a look at the students equations he realized that the method they used to calculate megalodon sizes for decades isn't that accurate at all so they invented a new method to calculate the megalodon size based on the width of the megalodon tooth instead of its length it turned out that the average megalodon would be around 65 feet long it's almost double the size scientists previously thought and would mean that the average megalodon is the length of two school buses a megalodon skeleton has never been discovered shark skeletons are made mostly of cartilage meaning that they decompose quickly luckily sharks continuously shed and regrow teeth throughout their lives one shark can go through forty thousand teeth in a single lifetime scientists have managed to study different types of shark species based on their teeth alone the megalodon shark had around 276 teeth when they fell out these teeth landed in seabed where they stayed for millions of years fossilizing scientists found those teeth and they're the only real record we have of the megalodon's existence the word megalodon means giant tooth its tooth is around seven inches long for comparison the largest tooth of a great white shark is only three inches long to find a bigger set of choppers you'd have to go back 65 million years to find the great tyrannosaurus rex whose teeth measured a whopping 12 inches megalodon teeth have been discovered all over the world it means that unlike other marine animals of its time the megalodon was intercontinental even today most sharks and marine animals tend to stick to one sea or ocean the megalodon sharks swam freely around the world moving between tropical and subtropical waters migloodon teeth have been found in every continent apart from the freezing cold waters of antarctica when a megalodon makes a starring appearance in a movie or tv show it's portrayed to look like a giant version of a great white shark scientists previously believed that the megalodon and the great white shark both descended from one common ancestor still it's not true in fact it's more likely that the megalodon was the arch enemy of the great white shark's ancestor the broad tooth mako shark that means megalodon wouldn't have looked so similar to the great white after all in reality the megalodon would have a shorter nose than the great white along with longer pectoral fins to give the giant shark a stalkier and more threatening build not only was the megalodon the largest shark in the world but it was also one of the biggest fish ever to exist an apex predator of this size would have needed a huge diet to keep it moving the megalodon would have eaten 2 500 pounds of food every day the megalodon diet consisted of larger species of fish dolphins and even other species of sharks ancient fossilized whale bones with cut marks of megalodon teeth have been discovered it means megalodons weren't intimidated by the size and tried to feast on the giant whales of the past scientists have used computer simulations to try and work out the hunting style of the ancient shark using this technology scientists have discovered that the megalodon's attack style was very different from that of modern day sharks modern sharks dive straight for their prey's most vulnerable spot for example the soft underbelly of a seal the megalodon's teeth were uniquely suited to biting through tougher areas of cartilage so evidence suggests that a megalodon would first chew the tougher fins of their prey rendering them unable to swim away before launching into their final attack the mouth of a megalodon was around 10 feet wide and 9 feet tall large enough for you to swim into without touching any teeth however we don't recommend that their mouths were so large a megalodon could swallow a small car without even having to bite down on it research teams from australia and the us collaborated to work out the binding power of the megalodon using computer simulations the results were terrifying while the modern great white shark has the biting power of 1.8 tons of force the megalodon could easily chomp down on its prey with a biting power of 18.2 tons the bite of the megalodon would easily be able to cut through steel and overpower any other predator in the ocean scientists believe that the megalodon has the most powerful bite of any creature that has ever existed the megalodon's bite would easily overpower the t-rex which has a biting force of six tons mysteriously no one knows exactly when or how the megalodon went extinct however several theories are floating around as to how this could be the case the megalodon had become extinct by the end of the plyo scene which was a phase of global cooling that spanned over 5 million years and ended over 2.6 million years ago new evidence suggests that the last megalodon lived at least 3.6 million years ago right in the middle of the pliocene era another theory claims that these mega sharks disappeared because of the changing earth temperatures occurring during the pliocene as the earth cooled down the tropical waters of the world's oceans plummeted to colder temperatures scientists believe that this led to the extinction of a third of all large marine animals meaning that the megalodon's food source took a massive hit without much prey left to hunt the megalodon inevitably went extinct megalodon sharks would give birth to their pups in waters close to the shore the shallow coastal waters provided a perfect nursery for the newborn sharks keeping them distant from the larger predators that lurked in the open waters as ice formed around the earth's poles and sea levels dropped these pupping grounds were destroyed the megalodon pups would have had no choice but to swim in the deep ocean waters making them more vulnerable to dangerous predators a new theory suggests that the explosion of a star called a supernova could be responsible for the extinction of the megalodon around 2.6 million years ago a supernova over 150 light years away from earth lit up the prehistoric sky and lingered there for months a few hundred years after the supernova had faded particles of cosmic energy from the star explosion plummeted to earth the energy particles carried dangerous amounts of radiation researchers believe that this radiation could cause the mass extinction of many marine animals including the megalodon radiation from the particles extended hundreds of yards down into the ocean and was more dangerous for bigger creatures than for smaller ones the bigger the creature is the more radiation they would absorb the 60 foot long megalodon was large enough to absorb great amounts of radiation some people believe that the megalodon is still alive today lurking at the depths of the ocean waters but it's unlikely to be true megalodons are a warm water species which means they would be unable to survive in the cold waters of the deep ocean most of the megalodon's potential prey live in shallower waters meaning there would be very little for the megalodon to eat at a deep sea level simply put if there were an animal as big as the megalodon still living today we would have spotted it by now

Channel: BRIGHT SIDE

Views: 562,100

Keywords: bright side, brightside, megalodon shark, huge sharks, meg size, megalodon size, megalodon tooth, the most dangerous sharks, the most dangerous animals, prehistoric animals, things you’ve never seen, Earth facts, fun science, amazing videos, shocking videos, amazing science, history of Earth, what if megalodon sharks were still here, bright side video, ocean predators, king of ocean, giant fish

Id: u6e4lyzAZFI

Length: 8min 23sec (503 seconds)

Published: Sat Jul 31 2021