The reconstructed megadolon was 16 metres lengthy and weighed over 61 tons. Credit: J.J. Giraldo
In a brand new 3D modeling examine printed this week in Science Advances, we present that the large extinct shark, Otodus megalodon, was a real globetrotting super-predator.
It was able to overlaying huge distances briefly order, and will eat the biggest of contemporary dwelling super-predators, the killer whale, in 5 gargantuan bites. It may have swallowed a fantastic white shark complete.
The largest shark that ever lived
Megalodon was the biggest shark that ever lived, and it was round for a very long time—from round 23 million to 2.6 million years in the past. At one time its vary was huge: its fossilized tooth have been discovered on each continent besides Antarctica. These tooth aren’t arduous to acknowledge if you happen to come throughout them, as they are often as much as 18 centimeters lengthy.
Just why this formidable predator went extinct stays a thriller. It may have been linked to international cooling, or competitors from different predators comparable to orcas (killer whales). This is only one of many unanswered questions.
One factor we all know for certain is that the megalodon was massive—however simply how massive has remained a degree of competition amongst scientists, as a result of earlier estimates have been successfully based mostly on simply fragmentary stays.
And its dimension actually issues, as a result of it helps us to interpret its biology—the sorts of prey an animal can kill and eat, the quantity of meals it must survive and the velocity at which it may well journey.
The query of food regimen is especially essential because it determines an animal’s position and impression on its ecosystem. Historically, many thought megalodon took very massive prey, together with massive whales.
But it has lately been argued that it could not have been fairly the super-predator it had been cracked as much as be, concluding that it focused on lesser prey comparable to seals, dolphins and small whales between round two and 7 meters in size. If appropriate, this is able to have main implications for our understanding of how the marine ecosystems of the time functioned.
Our new mannequin now suggests it did actually favor to tackle a lot bigger prey.
Car-crushing chunk drive
I’ve lengthy had an curiosity in megalodon. I printed a paper with colleagues again in 2007 whereby we constructed a pc simulation to foretell its chunk drive.
Our estimate—a car-crushing 18 metric tons—was depending on the assumed physique mass of the animal, so I used to be delighted when colleagues from abroad requested me to assist with an try to develop a extra correct mannequin of the entire shark. From there, we may extra reliably decide its dimension.
Previous estimates of the physique mass and proportions of megalodon have largely simply extrapolated on information from single fossilized vertebrae, which leaves quite a lot of room for error. Others have been based mostly on direct comparability with the dwelling nice white shark; nevertheless, it is now fairly clear that the 2 weren’t intently associated.
In our new examine, we based mostly our estimates on 3D modeling of essentially the most full specimen identified, represented by a largely intact vertebral column held in a Belgian museum. We quantified its complete size, weight, and the scale of its gape from the whole digital mannequin.
Lastly, we estimated the megalodon’s cruising velocity, the amount of its abdomen, its each day energetic calls for and the speed at which it possible encountered prey.
We concluded that this specific megalodon was round 16 meters lengthy and weighed in at greater than 61 metric tons. This is significantly bigger than current estimates of a mere 48 metric tons.
A whale for breakfast
Based on different remoted fossil vertebrae, it is possible the biggest megalodon grew to twenty meters in size. We additional decided that the Belgian specimen’s most gape was round 1.8 meters and that its abdomen may have held 9.5 cubic meters of meals.
This suggests it may have solely consumed the biggest of dwelling killer whales (round 8 meters) in simply 5 bites.
Hypothetically, it may have eaten one other iconic super-predator, the Tyrannosaurus rex, in simply three bites. As for nice white sharks, a megalodon may have swallowed a big one complete.
Our outcomes recommend megalodon may have comfortably cruised at over 5 kilometers per hour. This is far sooner than the biggest dwelling fish, the filter-feeding whale shark, and even the nice white shark, which cruises at round 3 kilometers per hour.
This ocean-spanning super-predator may journey huge distances briefly order, rising prey encounter charges and permitting it to rapidly transfer to reap the benefits of seasonal adjustments in prey abundance.
Results from our evaluation of energetics recommend that having eaten a giant killer whale for breakfast, this megalodon may have traveled round 7,000km earlier than needing to feed once more.
In quick, our outcomes present that megalodon actually was the super-predator it has been cracked as much as be, and extra.
No creature, regardless of its dimension, was secure from the jaws of this tremendous shark. Its extinction possible despatched super cascading results by way of marine environments of the time.
New 3D mannequin exhibits: Megalodon may eat prey the scale of whole killer whales
More info:
Jack A. Cooper et al, The extinct shark Otodus megalodon was a transoceanic superpredator: Inferences from 3D modeling, Science Advances (2022). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abm9424
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Ancient megalodon super-predators may swallow a fantastic white shark complete, new mannequin reveals (2022, August 21)
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