Megalodon - The Largest Shark Ever

 

Picture source: https://www.sciencefocus.com/news/prehistoric-megalodon-was-a-mega-shark-that-had-fins-as-large-as-an-entire-adult-human/

The Megalodon ( Otodus megalodon ) was a giant prehistoric shark which lived in the early Miocene epoch to the early Pliocene epoch 23 - 2.5 mya (Million Years Ago). 

It lived in almost all oceans, except for the waters around the poles which were colder. The megalodon preferred warmer oceans. 

Its name means Big tooth, as its teeth measured 17.8 cm in length or 7 inches.

This shark was the largest ever to swim the earth. 

We only have the jaws and teeth of the animal, so estimates are based off of the teeth of the megalodon. Estimate suggest that it may have been 10.2 m in length or 33.5 ft. in length. 

The reason we don't have the full skeleton of this shark is because shark bones are made out of cartilage, the same material present in-between human bones, and the only bones made out of actual bone are the jaws and teeth.

Picture source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megalodon

    The megalodon went extinct 2.5 mya (Million Years Ago). We aren't sure what led to the extinction of this Giant prehistoric shark, but we do have speculations to what might have happened.

The Megalodon was a large shark and therefore, needed lots of food to keep it alive, 2,500 pounds of meat! 

Its diet probably consisted of dolphins, whales etc. 

But the whales which the megalodon ate probably migrated to colder waters at some point in time. 

The megalodon much preferred warmer oceans, so when its prey migrated to cold waters, it couldn't do the same and eventually died out because of starvation.

The megalodon also could've been beat by the competition of other, smaller sharks of the time. 

These sharks were smaller and thus did not require so much food like the megalodon. 

Because they did not need so much food, they could easily have fed themselves, meaning more and more of these sharks would appear. 

More sharks meant they would also all need food, eventually leaving no food for the megalodons to survive.