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Megalodon Shark Facts

The giant prehistoric shark, Charcharocles megalodon, was among the largest predators the Earth has ever seen. It was more than 50 feet long and weighed 50 tons or more. That's longer than most houses, heavier than eight elephants and about three times the size of the largest of today's sharks, the great white. Many paleontologists regard megalodon as the direct ancestor of the great white shark, but others dispute this belief, according to the Fossilguy.com web site, likening the species relationship to distant cousins. But one thing they all agree on: this creature had gigantic teeth.

7 Inch Teeth
- Megalodon's teeth and upper spinal vertebrae were the only hard parts of its body that fossilized. These parts, along with the locations of megalodon fossil finds, are what paleontologists must work from. Like today's sharks, this monster of the deep had no real bones, said the shark experts at Enchantedlearning.com. Its body structure was made of cartilage, the stuff your nose is made of, and cartilage doesn't fossilize well. Megalodon teeth are huge, measuring up to 7 inches long. That's about the size of an adult human hand. And like today's sharks, megalodon had scores of these teeth in a mouth that could open more than 6 feet wide and 7 feet high. The Latin scientific name for this creature translates as "megatooth shark."
Species Emerges
- Megalodon emerged as a distinct species about 20 million years ago, in the early Miocene Era, according to Fossilguy.com. It existed alongside whales and almost certainly fed on them. Based on tooth size, the species reached its peak size in the late Miocene to early Pliocene Eras, between 9 million and 3 million years ago. It's believed to have gone extinct sometime between 3 million and 1 million years ago.
Megalodon's Ancestors
- Paleontologists can trace megalodon's ancestry back around 70 million years to the late Cretaceous Era, when sharks shared the top predator niche with giant marine reptiles. When the dinosaurs and giant marine reptiles disappeared 65 million years ago, sharks took over completely as top marine predator.
Perfect Conditions
- The Eocene Era following the end of the dinosaurs saw the rise of great whales and other marine mammals, which were a very rich food source for sharks. The Earth also was much warmer than today, with tropical water temperatures found in much higher latitudes than at present. All this contributed to making sharks into giants like the megalodon.
What Killed Megalodon?
- Most paleontologists believe climate change drove megalodon to extinction. The earth became significantly colder at the end of the Miocene and early Pliocene. As polar ice caps built up, sea levels dropped, changing the patterns of warm and cold ocean currents and the movements of marine mammals' food supplies. Whales adapted by becoming migratory, alternating between cool polar seas for feeding and warm tropical waters for breeding. Megalodon, a creature that required warm waters and a continuous abundance of food, wasn't able to adapt to the new seasonal conditions of feast or famine and gradually died out.

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