- Scientists have used fossils to understand the life of ancient megalodon sharks.
- They discovered that it swam about the same size as ten elephants and faster than sharks we have today.
- A co-author of the study called the creature a unique “superpredator.”
Scientists have used fossil evidence to better understand the life of ancient megalodon sharks, discovering that a killer whale-sized meal could be consumed in just five bites.
3D models created for the study, published Wednesday in the journal Science Advances, show the giant megalodon sharks totaled 50 feet, three times the size of the great white sharks we know today.
Sharks that lived between 23 million and 2.6 million years ago weighed the equivalent of ten elephants, or 70 tons.
Thanks to this new research, they know that the giant fish swam faster than today’s sharks and roamed the ocean for months at a time, each using their human-fist-sized teeth to feed on sea creatures.
The study’s co-author, John Hutchinson of the Royal Veterinary College in England, described the beast as a “predator,” though nothing to match, AP reported.
Catalina Pimiento, a paleontologist at the University of Zurich and the University of Swansea in Wales, told the AP that the Mogalodon is not well-made, so there are few resources available to create the models.
She said they had to use a rare collection of vertebrae in a Belgian museum from the 1860s.
