The megalodon, an ancient, enormous, kind of shark— which is quite dead now— used to be at the top of the food chain in the seas. But a new analysis of the teeth of a megalodon and a great white shark gives us hints about how both shark species competed for the same food.
This competition, researchers think, may have contributed to the extinction of the megalodons.
A team of researchers, led by Jeremy McCormack, posted their studies on May 31, in the scientific journal Nature Communications. McCormack is a geoscientist at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, in Leipzig, Germany.
The megalodon, a carnivore, was one of the largest to ever live in this world. Some of these sharks that seem to belong in a horror movie grew to be 14 meters, or 46 feet, long. They roamed the oceans about 23 million years ago, but when and why their disappearance happened isn’t known. They may have gone extinct 2.6 million years ago, or as early as 3.5 million years ago, when great white sharks were created.
To figure out if the great whites and the megalodons had the same food source, the researchers looked at the zinc in their teeth. There are two types, or isotopes, of zinc. The isotope of zinc found depended on how high animals were on the food chain. Zinc-66 usually appears in herbivores, while zinc-64 usually appears in carnivores.
The research’s results said that the great white and the megalodon had similar amounts of zinc, showing hints that these shark species dined on the same kind of prey, such as whales and seals.
Even though this may be a part of how the megalodon went extinct, it still isn’t known yet. There are many possible reasons why this predator went extinct. So, great whites can’t be the only reason why. Things like a decrease in prey and changes to the ocean currents could play a part in the extinction of the ferocious, enormous, and extinct megalodon.
This competition, researchers think, may have contributed to the extinction of the megalodons.
A team of researchers, led by Jeremy McCormack, posted their studies on May 31, in the scientific journal Nature Communications. McCormack is a geoscientist at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, in Leipzig, Germany.
The megalodon, a carnivore, was one of the largest to ever live in this world. Some of these sharks that seem to belong in a horror movie grew to be 14 meters, or 46 feet, long. They roamed the oceans about 23 million years ago, but when and why their disappearance happened isn’t known. They may have gone extinct 2.6 million years ago, or as early as 3.5 million years ago, when great white sharks were created.
To figure out if the great whites and the megalodons had the same food source, the researchers looked at the zinc in their teeth. There are two types, or isotopes, of zinc. The isotope of zinc found depended on how high animals were on the food chain. Zinc-66 usually appears in herbivores, while zinc-64 usually appears in carnivores.
The research’s results said that the great white and the megalodon had similar amounts of zinc, showing hints that these shark species dined on the same kind of prey, such as whales and seals.
Even though this may be a part of how the megalodon went extinct, it still isn’t known yet. There are many possible reasons why this predator went extinct. So, great whites can’t be the only reason why. Things like a decrease in prey and changes to the ocean currents could play a part in the extinction of the ferocious, enormous, and extinct megalodon.
