FAST FACTS ABOUT MEGALDON ? Megalodon had 46
front row teeth, 24 in the upper jaw and 22 in the lower. Most sharks have at least six rows of teeth, so a Megalodon had about 276 teeth at any given time. 4. Megalodon may have grown to a length of over 60 feet.
Since Megalodon is known from thousands of teeth but only a few scattered bones, its exact size has been a matter of debate. Over the past century, paleontologists have come up with estimates (based mainly on tooth size and analogy with modern Great White Sharks) ranging from 40 to 100 feet, but the consensus today is that adults were 55 to 60 feet long and.
? Megalodon was
about 60 feet long with a body mass of about 77 tons.
5. which made it much bigger than prehistoric reptiles like Liopleurodon.
He ocean's natural buoyancy allows "top predators" to grow to massive sizes, but none were more massive than Megalodon. The giant aquatic reptiles of the Mesozoic Era, like Liopleurodon and Kronosaurus, "only" attained weights of 30 or 40 tons, and a modern Great White Shark can only aspire to a relatively puny 3 tons. The only marine animal to outclass Megalodon is the blue whale, individuals of which have been known to weigh well over 100 tons.
? Some scientists
estimate that Megalodon ate about 2,500 pounds of food every day, including whales and other large fish.
T
? Megalodon lived
throughout most of the ancient world's oceans, from 17 to 2 million years ago.
6. Megalodon lunched on giant whales...
Although the bigger-than-Megalodon blue whale is technically a carnivore, it feeds mostly on tiny krill. Megalodon had a diet more befitting an apex predator, feasting on the prehistoric whales that swam the earth's oceans during the Pliocene and Miocene epochs, but also chowing down on dolphins, squids, fish, and even giant turtles (whose shells, as tough as they were, couldn't hold up against 10 tons of biting force). Megalodon may even have attacked the giant whale Leviathan; see Megalodon vs. Leviathan - Who Wins? for an analysis of this epic battle.
?
Ancient people collected Megalodon teeth and traditional legends feature giant sharks.