Perhaps to a lesser extent than the dinosaurs, the megalodon It is part of the animals that human beings have never known, but they still produce fear and fascination in us. In recent years this animal has been acquiring some relevance thanks to cinema and television channels dedicated to science fiction, so perhaps you should know these 10 facts about the Megalodon that we offer you in Super curious.
Facts you should know about the Megalodon that do you dare to discover?
1. The megalodon It is the largest shark known. Although some experts believe that there could have been specimens of 25 meters, the consensus is that it could have reached a length of about 18 meters, which is still larger than the whale shark.
2. The baby of a megalodon could be the size of a great white shark. And in fact, The penis of a male megalodon was the size of a white shark.
3. This giant roamed the ancient seas from 28 million years ago until just over 2 million years ago, and although there were already hominids, homo sapiens had not yet emerged, that is, we, who are barely 200,000 years old, act as the maximum predators of the planet.
4. Paleontologists consider it as the most powerful predator in history and one of the most astute hunters. Large fossil remains of whales, one of the megalodon’s favorite prey, show that it focused its attacks on the fins, to immobilize them, and on the vertebrae, to damage vital organs. It is believed that their hunting tactics were superior to that of the white shark.
5. It is believed that it fed on everything that moved underwater: large and small whales, dolphins, porpoises, fish of various sizes, sharks of other species and possibly had a cannibalistic behaviorthat is, they attacked less favored members of their own species.
6. Megalodon fossils have been found all over the world, even in areas far from the sea, indicating that it was present in all oceans, at the top of the food chain. It is believed that the adults sought out areas where there were an abundance of whales, while the young stayed in less populated areas.
7. This is perhaps one of the facts about the Megalodon that we find most terrifying: It had a bite so powerful that it could easily crush a car.l. A team led by Stephen Wroe, from the University of New South Wales (Australia), developed a computer model to compare the bite of the great white shark with that of the megalodon and these were the results: the force of the bite of the former would be about 4,000 pounds (1,800 kilograms), while that of the megalodon must have been between 24,000 and 40,000 pounds (10,900 to 18,000 kilograms).
8. During the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, fossilized megalodon teeth found in different places in Europe and Asia fed the beliefs in dragons and giant snakes. The first to refute these ideas was the Danish naturalist Nicolaus Steno, who in 1667 asserted that These were fossil teeth of a giant shark.
9. The fossil teeth of a megalodon can reach up to 180 mm and constitute the most abundant type of fossil of this species because, like its contemporaries, this shark had a cartilaginous bone structure, and only remains of its upper and lower vertebrae have been found. petrified teeth.
10. Why did megalodons become extinct?
There are 3 theories about this: the first points to the cooling of ocean waters, which could affect these beings that preferred warm waters; The second considers that there was a great decrease in Megalodon food, leading to its extinction; and the third, which enjoys less support, suggests that became extinct due to the appearance of a smaller, but more intelligent predator, the orcas. Perhaps it was a deadly combination of all three.
If you were interested in knowing these facts about the Megalodon, discover the sea snakes, a real myth?