Will Big Sharks Ever Exist Again
Megalodon Shark Teeth with Whale Bone Fossils
Is the Megalodon Shark Alive Today? The Reply is a Resounding NO.
This article is intended to requite you the real science behind the megalodon extinction and why they are non alive today. Outset, permit's look at the origins of why many people think megalodon is alive...
The Fake Documentaries
Faked megalodon image used on a Discovery Channel false megalodon documentary. The original prototype is a screencap of archival footage of U-boats in the Atlantic.
This website has a very nice Megalodon information page. It has everything you wanted to know almost the giant megalodon and it's cited with scientific journal manufactures.
Unfortunately, due to an influx of fake documentaries, odd youtube videos, and the move "The 1000000" people are assertive megalodon is alive today.
Fictional documentaries, meant to mislead the public, started with the 2013 "Megalodon - The Monster Shark Lives," the 2014 Shark Week sequel, "Megalodon: The New Evidence
What unsuspecting people don't realize is these shows were meant to misguide the public and are completely fabricated. They make squeamish monster movies, however, since they are presented on a channel formerly known for science programming, many people think they are real. For the Discovery Aqueduct False Documentaries, some of the fake evidence includes:
This unethical interview practice that duped many scientists is downright dangerous to the scientific community.
Since these fictional documentaries, where scientific discipline was removed and fiction was inserted are adequately popular, many people at present believe that megalodon is even so alive. The answer to the megalodon question is a resounding NO. Megalodon went extinct effectually iii.5 one thousand thousand years ago.
A Real Documentary
Although the Discovery documentaries on megalodons are entirely fictional, at that place is a real documentary most the megalodon that'south much more accurate and educational. It was produced by National Geographic. It'southward called Prehistoric Predators: Monster Shark
The Real Show of Megalodons Existence
What's the real evidence that megalodon is still live? There is none. I'one thousand not beingness biased here. There is NO scientific evidence that supports the existence of a living megalodon. Let'southward look at the confused prove used to support megalodon existence today:
Reports of the "HUGE 9 pes Great White being eaten whole by an Unknown Super Predator"
A research team in Australia tagging Great White sharks found one of their tracking devices washed up on shore four months after tagging a Great White. When analyzing the data, they found a temperature rise and a sudden 1,900 foot driblet in depth. The only logical explanation was the shark was eaten past something and the tracking device was in the predators digestive track. This office is true. Unfortunately, headlines circling the cyberspace were incredibly skewed. They mention a "Huge" 9 foot Great White, a "mystery sea monster", a new "super predator", etc... People reading these misleading headlines tin can easily come up to the assumption that a Megalodon shark ate the Cracking White.
However, if one looks at the science, there is a much more clear explanation. A larger Slap-up White ate the Bang-up White. The researchers even say this, but most of the internet articles stopped before mentioning this.
Videos and pictures of giant expressionless sharks washing ashore or seen swimming nigh a boats and/or people. These must exist megalodons.
Odd things wash ashore from time to fourth dimension. Partly decomposed whales and large sharks make for skilful sea monsters. The paradigm below is a classic i.
This engraved image from the October 24th, 1868 edition of Harpery Weekly titled "The Wonderful Fish, Defenseless Near Eastport, Maine, Aug. iii, 1868" shows a creature washed ashore. Information technology is most likely a basking shark with artistic touches (overnice legs!).
This work is U.South. public domain (PD-1923)
Videos and images of giant sharks do exist. Many of them are real. The reason is because there are large sharks, like in size to what megalodon was, that exist today. 60 feet is stretching information technology for a maximum size of a megalodon. The average size of a megalodon was around 30 feet (run into the Megalodon Size Folio for cited size information). Other large sharks can accomplish simlar sizes today. 2 of these sharks are the Whale shark and the Basking Shark.
Whale sharks can reach lengths of around 40 feet, which is similar to a Megalodon. But they have a distinctive wide and flat appearance. They are black with white spots on them.
Yet, the other large shark, the basking shark, has been mistaken for megalodon. These GIANT, yet harmless, creatures can grow to nigh the same size every bit a megalodon.
Basking sharks inhabit coastal waters and feed on plankton. These docile sharks grow upward to 40 feet; like in size to a megalodon. On the rare occasion when these beautiful creatures are spotted past beachgoers, they can easily be confused with a megalodon by someone with an overactive imagination. Just considering a behemothic shark is sighted doesn't hateful it's a prehistoric megalodon, information technology could very well be 1 of these astonishing basking sharks. A classic case is shown in the Harpers Weekly image above and another proficient example is shown below.
This amazing photograph is of a Basking shark swimming nigh a beachgoer. Basking sharks can hands exist misidentified as a megalodon by people with overactive imaginations. Image courtesy of candiche.
If a megalodon body washed ashore today, or one was videotaped or photographed pond around, information technology would make instant global news and non just news in the conspiracy register of youtube.
Contempo megalodon teeth being found - aka New Caledonia teeth
This is a pop slice of evidence used. However, there have NEVER been any contempo megalodon teeth institute. The most recent ones are still over 2 million years quondam. The origin of "contempo megalodon teeth" started in the 1950's. Megalodon teeth were establish in the South Pacific from dredging along deep thou foot slopes of a fringing reef around New Caledonia.
The enamel on many of these teeth are leeched such that a white colour was left, making them slightly resemble a recent tooth. The type of age dating done in the 1950's was Manganese dioxide dating. The Manganese dioxide dating gave an historic period range of the sampled teeth to be between 11,000 and 24,000 years old.
This type of manganese dioxide dating is at present considered invalid, due to the teeth being eroded out of their original formation and re-deposited. Today, modern dating methods indicate the teeth are eroded from a Miocene formation, which is between 23 and 5 million years sometime. Any source that uses the "evidence" that teeth pulled from the Due south Pacific are 11,000 to 24,000 years former are purposely misleading the reader by using invalid and outdated evidence.
On a side note, these beautiful fossil megalodon teeth use to exist dredged from this area by the boatload. In 2003 the French pulled the permit for dredging in this area. Today these beautiful New Caledonian fossil megalodon teeth cannot be collected.
If a recent megalodon tooth was always plant, Paleontologists and marine Biologists would take a field day publishing new periodical articles. These scientific and peer reviewed articles exercise not be.
Megalodon evolved into a deep sea predator and is still roaming the deep seas.
In that location is no scientific prove of megalodon evolving into annihilation else. Bear witness suggests it went extinct approximately iii.5 million years ago with many of the big marine animals during the mid-finish Pliocene.
Let's start this one by looking at megalodon origins. Although the fossil record can be spotty and at that place are gaps, the fossil tape for shark teeth in 3rd deposits is actually well-nigh complete.
Scientists have a very prissy evolutionary history of the megatooth sharks starting style back in the cretaceous with the shark Cretolamna appenticulata. Equally time goes on, in that location is a articulate fossil tape of slight changes in the shark teeth. The cusps gradually become smaller and dissapear. Cutting edges go serrated, the crown gets broader, and the overall size of the teeth increases over time. Paleontologists assign each change of the megatooth shark into new species, and fifty-fifty genera, until the high marker is reached; Otodus (Carcharocles) megalodon.
Yes, there is contend over exact species names, genera names, and when i morphological form is pronounced enough to exist considered a new species. But everyone does agree, the fossil record is very clear and complete when it comes to the evolutionary history of megalodon.
The extinction of megalodon also is clear in the fossil tape. Fossils of megalodon are plentiful, but at the mid-end Pliocene, they vanish. This doesn't mean there are not marine Pleistocene formations. In that location are, and they are plentiful. They contain an array of marine fauna, including many surviving sharks and surviving whales. They merely don't contain megalodon fossils anymore. There are no transitional fossils showing a gradual change of megalodon into something else, there just are no fossils of megalodon or similar creatures. If megalodon changed into something else, at that place would exist a clear tape in these well studied Pleistocene formations. At that place is no tape, they completely vanish. The only valid conclusion is megalodon became extinct.
This shows the evolution of the megalodon, from a small Cretaceous shark to the apex predator of the Pliocene. After the Pliocene, megalodon fossils are no longer present.
The Oceans are so vast and mostly unexplored; a large predator tin can easily evade detection, so megalodon tin can exist.
This is probably the almost ordinarily used argument. That's because the statement is partially true. The oceans are vast and a large predator can evade detection. Unfortunately, the statement contains a mutual logical fallacy called the "Statement from Ignorance". This common logical fallacy states since nosotros don't know or can never prove whether a claim is true, information technology must be false.
Scientists are always finding new deep bounding main creatures. Nevertheless, the evidence for megalodon is not there. There could be space aliens nether the bounding main, there could be unicorns, dragons, Elvis, Jimmy Hoffa all living in some underwater castle yet to be discovered. However, the show for these are also not there.
Lets look at the scientific evidence. Megalodon is just not any oceanic fauna. It was THE top noon predator of the oceans. The evidence is not in that location for a large undetected noon predator ruling the oceans. I'thou sure in that location are plenty of other undetected animals, including new species of sharks roaming the oceans, but none of them are going to be a top apex predator like the megalodon.
Permit's wait at some of the reasons why:
If megalodons were alive today, we would be seeing them, ALL THE TIME.
Unlike many sharks, Megalodon was a warm water animate being. Fossils are merely found in ancient warm water oceans and seas, not most the poles. They used nursing grounds that were near shore, the Due east Atlantic Coastal Plain and Florida were ii such nursing grounds. Juveniles would live and abound there.
They ate cetacea (whales), and lots of them.
They were common. Megalodon fossils are constitute most globally in all warm and temperate waters of the Miocene and Pliocene. These were not rare animals and their fossils are relatively abundant.
If megalodons still existy, we would be seeing them ALL THE TIME. These top apex predators would be spotted eating whales on whale watching tours, they would be spotted by recreational boaters in the nearshore coastlines. There would be a whole "megalodon watching" and "megalodon diving" tourist industry centered effectually them. Carcasses would be washing aground from time to time (like the basking sharks). They would non exist hiding in the deep, cold, nighttime depths of the body of water. These animals were in no way designed for that.
Megalodon was THE height apex predator of the oceans. The mod ecology of the oceans cannot support such an apex predator today.
A major issue occurred toward the end of the Pliocene which caused a mass extinction of large marine animals. Factors include global cooling and changing ocean currents due to the endmost of central america. This completely close down the tropical currents connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and completely changed temperatures, currents, and nutrient menses of the Oceans.
Since megalodons were warm h2o animals, this event stopped megalodons from swiming between oceans. Megalodon populations became isolated in "islands of warm h2o".
Ice Historic period cycles were triggered during the cooling in the Pliocene. Water ice sheets caused h2o to become locked up at the poles, causing a dramatic driblet in global sea levels. Nearshore megalodon nursing areas were lost.
All of these events caused a major disruption in marine fauna, peculiarly megafauna, like whales and sharks. Whale diversity (megalodons main food source) drasitcally shrank. Many whale genera became extinct, including the cetotherids that were a main food source. The few whales that survived adapted and started migrating into cooler, more than nutrient rich waters where megalodon could non get. Other whales adapted into large killing noon predators that hunted in pods, such as the Orcas. Juvenile megalodons would have fabricated for tasty Orca snacks.
All of these massive ecological changes above spells disaster for whatsoever top apex predator. When an ecosystem collapses, the kickoff animals to go are the ones on the height of the food concatenation. Today, the limited warm ocean waters are not nutrient rich enough to support a large apex predator like megalodon. Also there but are non enough cetacea to support the feeding habits of megalodon. There are also no more nursing grounds left for megalodon.
Summing this all up, megalodons habitat is gone, it's food source is extinct, and at that place are now other (smaller) apex predators in the oceans occupying megalodons niche. There is just no room, ecologically speaking, for a megalodon to exist.
So, to sum everything up... Megalodon is NOT live today, it went extinct around 3.5 million years ago.
Go to the Megalodon Shark Page to learn the existent facts about the largest shark to always alive, including the bodily research about it'due south extinction.
Recommended Books most the Megalodon Shark:
The following volume: Megalodon: Hunting the Hunter
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Source: https://www.fossilguy.com/topics/is-megalodon-alive/index.htm
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