MADDIE BURAKOFF, AP Science Creator
Aug. 17, 2022Updated: Aug. 17, 2022 3: 56 p.m.
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1of5This illustration offered by J. J. Giraldo depicts a 16-meter (52-foot) Otodus megalodon shark predating on an 8-meter (26-foot) Balaenoptera whale within the Pliocene epoch, between 5.4 to 2.4 million years within the past. At background merely, a 4-meter (13-foot) Carcharodon shark seizes a 2.5-meter (8-foot) juvenile of the whale pod. The mountainous megalodon shark that roamed the oceans hundreds and hundreds of years within the past would possibly have faith devoured a creature the size of a killer whale in just 5 bites, in step with a ogle printed Wednesday, Aug. 17, 2022, within the journal Science Advances. (J. J. Giraldo by process of AP) Existing MoreShow Less
2of5This characterize offered by the Florida Museum of Natural Historic previous in August 2022, presentations a reconstructed jaw of Carcharocles megalodon, an extinct species of shark that lived about 23 to three.6 million years within the past. At around 50 feet (16 meters) from nose to tail, the megalodon used to be larger than a college bus, in step with a ogle printed within the journal Science Advances on Wednesday, Aug. 17, 2022. That is set two to three occasions the size of this day’s mountainous white shark. (Eric Zamora/Florida Museum of Natural Historic previous by process of AP)Eric Zamora/APShow MoreShow Less
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4of5This characterize offered by the Florida Museum of Natural Historic previous in August 2022, presentations a Megalodon shark teeth, whose blade-cherish form is great for preying on elephantine marine mammals, such as whales and dolphins. At around 50 feet (16 meters) from nose to tail, the megalodon used to be larger than a college bus, in step with a ogle printed within the journal Science Advances on Wednesday, Aug. 17, 2022. That is set two to three occasions the size of this day’s mountainous white shark. (Kristen Grace/Florida Museum of Natural Historic previous by process of AP)Kristen Grace/APShow MoreShow Less
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NEW YORK (AP) — On the novel time’s sharks haven’t got something else on their aged cousins. A huge shark that roamed the oceans hundreds and hundreds of years within the past would possibly have faith devoured a creature the size of a killer whale in just 5 bites, unique research suggests.
For his or her ogle printed Wednesday, researchers ragged fossil proof to create a 3D model of the megalodon — one amongst the biggest predatory fish of all time — and get clues about its lifestyles.
At around 50 feet (16 meters) from nose to tail, the megalodon used to be larger than a college bus, in step with the ogle within the journal Science Advances. That is set two to three occasions the size of this day’s mountainous white shark. The megalodon’s gaping jaw allowed it to feed on other good creatures. As soon as it filled its huge abdominal, it would possibly possibly well stride the oceans for months at a time, the researchers counsel.
The megalodon used to be a sturdy swimmer, too: Its practical cruising tempo used to be sooner than sharks this day and it would possibly possibly have faith migrated across more than one oceans with ease, they calculated.
“It would be a superpredator merely dominating its ecosystem,” acknowledged co-creator John Hutchinson, who research the evolution of animal circulation at England’s Royal Veterinary School. “There is nothing essentially matching it.”
It’s been difficult for scientists to get a transparent characterize of the megalodon, acknowledged ogle creator Catalina Pimiento, a paleobiologist with the College of Zurich and Swansea College in Wales.
The skeleton is fabricated from soppy cartilage that doesn’t fossilize wisely, Pimiento acknowledged. So the scientists ragged what few fossils are on hand, collectively with a rare series of vertebrae that’s been at a Belgium museum since the 1860s.
Researchers also introduced in a jaw’s worth of megalodon teeth, every as good as a human fist, Hutchinson acknowledged. Scans of popular mountainous white sharks helped flesh out the remainder.
In step with their digital creation, researchers calculated that the megalodon would have faith weighed around 70 tons, or as noteworthy as 10 elephants.
Even other excessive-stage predators would possibly additionally merely were lunch meat for the megalodon, which would possibly possibly birth its jaw to almost 6 feet (2 meters) wide, Pimiento acknowledged.
Megalodons lived an estimated 23 million to 2.6 million years within the past.
Since megalodon fossils are rare, most of those objects require a “soar of creativeness,” acknowledged Michael Gottfried, a paleontologist at Michigan Narrate College who used to be no longer fervent concerning the ogle. But he acknowledged the ogle’s findings are practical in accordance with what’s principal concerning the mountainous shark.
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