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Home ⁄ Ancient History ⁄ Baby Megalodon sharks were bigger than a grown man, science says

Baby Megalodon sharks were bigger than a grown man, science says

Baby Megalodon sharks were bigger than a grown man, science says
Baby Megalodon sharks were bigger than a grown man, science says
The Megalodon shark lived nearly worldwide roughly 15 to 3.6 million years ago

The gigantic Megalodon or megatooth shark gave birth to babies larger than most adult humans, new research has concluded.

It’s also believed the massive youngsters grew by feeding on unhatched eggs in the womb.

The animal, which lived nearly worldwide roughly 15 to 3.6 million years ago, reached at least 50 feet (15 metres) in length.

According to the study, from the moment of birth Megalodon – formally called Otodus megalodon – was already a big fish.

Kenshu Shimada, a paleobiologist at DePaul University in Chicago and lead author of the study, said: ‘As one of the largest carnivores that ever existed on Earth, deciphering such growth parameters of megalodon is critical to understand the role large carnivores play in the context of the evolution of marine ecosystems.’

Researchers used a CT scanning technique to examine incremental growth bands in Megalodon vertebral specimens housed in the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences in Brussels.

Embargoed to 0001 Monday January 11 Undated handout image issued by DePaul University/Kenshu Shimada of identified annual growth bands in a vertebra of the extinct megatooth shark Otodus megalodon along with hypothetical silhouettes of the shark at birth and death, each compared with size of typical adult human. The vertebral specimen is housed in the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences in Brussels. PA Photo. Issue date: Monday January 11, 2021. The gigantic Megalodon or megatooth shark gave birth to babies larger than most adult humans which grew by feeding on unhatched eggs in the womb, new research suggests. See PA story SCIENCE Megalodon. Photo credit should read: DePaul University/Kenshu Shimada/PA Wire NOTE TO EDITORS: This handout photo may only be used in for editorial reporting purposes for the contemporaneous illustration of events, things or the people in the image or facts mentioned in the caption. Reuse of the picture may require further permission from the copyright holder.
Scientists at DePaul University in Chicago measured vertebrae to identify the growth of the megalodon and therefore figure out how young its offspring were (Credits: PA)

Measuring up to six inches in diameter, the vertebrae were previously estimated to have come from an individual about 30 feet in length based on comparisons with vertebrae of modern great white sharks, according to the researchers.

The images revealed the vertebrae to have 46 growth bands, meaning that the nine-metre Megalodon fossil died at age 46.

By back-calculating its body length when each band formed, the study published in Historical Biology, suggests the shark’s size at birth was about 6.6 feet in length, suggesting that Megalodon gave live birth to possibly the largest babies in the shark world.

Researchers say the data also indicates that like all present-day lamniform sharks, embryonic Megalodon grew inside its mother by feeding on unhatched eggs in the womb – a practice known as oophagy, a form of intrauterine cannibalism.

Co-author Martin Becker, of William Paterson University, New Jersey, said: ‘Results from this work shed new light on the life history of Megalodon, not only how Megalodon grew, but also how its embryos developed, how it gave birth and how long it could have lived.’