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Prehistoric Sharks
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Carcharodon Megalodon tooth compared to a fossil Great White Shark and to a modern Great White Shark
Credit to @evolution_soup  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author
Megalodon - The Greatest Predator That Ever Lived
 *This image is copyright of its original author "The megalodon shark was one of the fiercest and largest predators to ever swim in the ocean. Capable of reaching lengths twice the size of Tyrannosaurus Rex and carrying a bite force that could crush an automobile, the meg, or Carcharocles megalodon, was the ruler of the prehistoric seas." And yet, despite being at the top of the food chain with no known predators, the shark went extinct around 2.6 million years ago. It’s a mystery we’ve yet to solve. There are countless theories, but nobody has been able to explain for sure why, right before the dawn of humanity, one of the ocean’s deadliest predators disappeared."  *This image is copyright of its original author "The megalodon is the largest shark ever documented, though exactly how massive the animal was varies based on the source. The more modest estimates say that the shark grew up to 60 feet, which is roughly the size of a standard bowling alley lane.".. But other sources say it was far larger and posit that the megalodon could have reached more than 80 feet, making it the length of three of London’s famous double-decker buses.".. Either way, they dwarfed the sharks in our oceans today. According to shark expert Peter Klimley, if a modern great white shark swam up beside a megalodon, it would just barely match the length of the megalodons penis." The megalodon’s enormous weight matched its size. The adults reportedly could weigh anywhere from 66,000 pounds to more than 143,000 pounds. The megalodon’s teeth are the best tools researchers have to discover any information about this long-lost beast – and they are ghastly reminders of the pain that this underwater behemoth could inflict." The very name “megalodon” literally means “big tooth.” The largest tooth fossil recovered clocked in at a whopping 6.9 inches, three times as large as the average great white’s tooth. Some reports cite a tooth measuring more than 7 inches." Like the great white, the megalodon’s teeth were triangular, symmetrical, and serrated, which made them perfect for tearing through the flesh of their prey. According to researchers, sharks a set of teeth every one to two weeks and produce somewhere between 20,000 and 40,000 teeth in a lifetime."  *This image is copyright of its original author The megalodon’s huge teeth sat nestled inside an even more enormous jaw. Their jaws’ bite diameter was around nine feet tall by 11 feet wide, large enough to swallow two human adults standing side-by-side in a single gulp." Those jaws were some of the mightiest that ever terrorized the earth. The average human’s bite force is around 1,317 newtons. The megalodon’s bite force clocked in somewhere between 108,514 and 182,201 newtons, giving them a bite powerful enough to crush a car." During its reign, it is believed that the megalodon preyed through nearly every corner of the early oceans as their teeth have been found on every continent except Antarctica." The shark preferred warmer waters and tended to stick to shallower and temperate seas, hunting in those waters which covered much of the planet. But because the megalodon was so enormous animal, the shark had to eat a ton of food a day — literally. They preyed on large marine mammals such as whales, snacking on baleen whales or even humpbacks. But when the larger meals were scarce, the megalodon would settle for smaller animals like dolphins, seals, and even smaller sharks." Death, when a megalodon attacked, did not come quickly. Some researchers say that the megalodon strategically hunted the whales it devoured by first eating their flippers or tails to make it harder for the injured animal to escape." https://allthatsinteresting.com/megalodon 
We human tend to exaggerate the things that we don't know... not your fault..
How human brain works.. 1. Found some things that does not exit in present, Start reading and studying it (Without any accuracy proof) 2. Start making assumption base on half study, half proofs and suspicious claims. 3. Now with that knowledge, you get fascinated with the animals. 4. Your unfinished study and unproven facts are exaggerated up to your imagination limit (basically process of self satisfaction) 5. You will start putting it everywhere and desperately wanted it to be accepted as facts by others. This is true for most if not all of the researcher and scientist. Now the common worshiper, will do one level more.. they will make it spread all over the world by all means.. So this is how most of the extinct animals discovered and presented. Unfortunately, most of us don't use basic brain capability, to me its analyzing the things by seeing similar things in nature... All those extinct animals have relatives still living around us. If you study them carefully using common sense, you will know far better that published studies and research. Not all things but most common nature can be concluded very easily. One more problem is, story presented by NGC, Discovery, BBC, YouTube videos.. Story has 2 problems 1. They need to be interesting with lots of fairy tale, and exaggerated things so that they have more views.. more money.. more brand value.. and more business.. 2. Music. yes the background music play an important roles to make an impact on your thought..put a terrifying music while describing tasmanian devil and it will make 1000 of kids thinking that they are real terrifying creature. Human brains are most intelligent brain of all ( claimed by human ). Still they can be easily manipulated. (08-19-2019, 06:45 AM)sanjay Wrote: We human tend to exaggerate the things that we don't know... not your fault.. I'm not sure why you said all this, but are you actually disputing that the Megalodon was the greatest predator that ever lived? I 100% agree with you, that humans tend to over-exaggerate many things, HOWEVER...when it comes to the Megalodon there is no exaggeration. The Megalodon is literally the largest apex predator that's ever been discovered in history and the 3rd largest animal ever recorded in history, just behind the Argentinosaurus and the Blue whale. And is known for having the most powerful biteforce ever recorded of any animal in the history of this planet. Watch this from the 55:45 mark: (In this doc, it states the Megalodon was 60 feet long and weighed 100 tonnes) Listen to what the Megalodon expert says... It was an enormous monster-shark, anywhere between 60 - 80 ft and around 80 - 100 tonnes. (According to most leading marine/shark experts) The Megalodon was the top undisputed APEX predator of the ocean and completely dominated the ocean and all the creatures in it. It had no enemies, absolutely no threats whatsoever. Nothing was safe from this shark, It reigned supreme over all other large predators and marine mammals, and routinely preyed upon huge whales. All creatures feared it. Even the smaller Leviathan whale was no match for the Megalodon. So whatever the real exact size of the Megalodon was is impossible to tell, since its long extinct. So all we have is estimates and speculations. But the established FACT is that it is the largest apex predator ever discovered in history, and the 3rd largest animal ever discovered too. Clearly making the Megalodon truly the most formidable, fearsome, powerful and greatest predator of all time. Now, can you name me just one single animal in all of history, that can challenge the Megalodons throne at the top? 
I don't understand why they continue representing Carcharocles megalodon just like a big white shark when in fact it was a completelly diferent genus and per se, a completelly different body form?
The last conclutions that I have read says that this giant shark was closer in form to the basking sharks or sand tiger sharks, which will make him long but slender at some point. I think that Carcharocles megalodon had suffer to much of the "godzillification" efect and is very hard to found reliable studies and conclutions about its estimated size and weights. The last time that I saw, the maximum estimated size was at c.18 m long and c.60 metric tons in weight. However I don't know how accurate are these figures at this point. 
(08-19-2019, 09:20 PM)GuateGojira Wrote: I don't understand why they continue representing Carcharocles megalodon just like a big white shark when in fact it was a completelly diferent genus and per se, a completelly different body form?@GuateGojira In post #14 you can see Carcharodon exhibited in Washington DC recently (05-23-2019, 07:21 PM)epaiva Wrote:Ohhhh, completelly diferent. Still long, but more slender, probably about 50 metric tones at the most. Thanks @epaiva. 
These pictures of how they made this giant of c.16 meters long (52 ft) are incredible too:
:focal(934x872:935x873)/https://public-media.si-cdn.com/filer/df/14/df14c47c-a08e-4062-8453-951a32b8aa9d/jun2019_d23_prologue.jpg) *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author
(08-19-2019, 05:56 PM)Megalodon Wrote: Now, can you name me just one single animal in all of history, that can challenge the Megalodons throne at the top? Livyatan melvillei and also the modern orca (in group at least). Also, if this shark had a maximum "realistic" estimation of up to 18 meters long (from nose to tip of tail) and about 50-60 tons, this was probably the 6th largest animal on the water, besides the blue whale, the fin whale and the sperm whale (in lenght) and also the right and the Groenland whales (in weight), and at about the same size than Livyatan (using the maximum "realistic" estimation). In land, there are several sauropods that measured much more than 18 meters and weighed over 60 tons, not just Argentinosaurus. So I don't think that the great Carcharocles (Otodus) megalodon was even near the top 5 over all. It was a great animal, the top of its group, an alpha predator and the largest shark/fish in the history of Earth, but we don't need to exagerate too much. (08-19-2019, 10:32 PM)GuateGojira Wrote:(08-19-2019, 05:56 PM)Megalodon Wrote: Now, can you name me just one single animal in all of history, that can challenge the Megalodons throne at the top? Livyatan melvillei wasn't a match for the Megalodon. Cetaceans are no match for sharks at similar sizes or parity. Dolphins and Porpoises get destroyed by similar-sized sharks. A predatory shark's weaponry, power and durability is on another level from whales, Orca's etc... There's a very good reason all, if not most marine animal experts/scientists have unanimously agreed to the Megalodons superiority and sheer dominance over all of history's marine predators. It was the UNDISPUTED lord of the ocean. Not just my words, but the words of tons of experts. Also, an Orca pod very rarely, if ever even attacks or challenges a Bull sperm whale, and you expect them to pose a threat to the far more deadlier Megalodon? Are you serious? I would very confidently even put my house on the line, that if an Orca pod senses a Megalodon approaching, the Orca's are gonna immediately FLEE out of fear. No doubt in my mind. One Megalodon far outweighs multiple Orca's together. Experts say that the biteforce of Megalodon was not only the most powerful bite of any animal in history, but it was enough to literally chomp adult whales in half. 
Short article with Megalodon expert Dr. Catalina Pimiento telling differences between myths and reality.
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-45145981 One study about Megalodon. Quotes: "Life stage and total length estimates The tooth size comparisons made in this research suggest that the small size of C. megalodonteeth from the Gatun Formation is not related to temporal differences within a chronoclinally evolving species or to the tooth position within the jaw (as described above); but rather they belong to juvenile sharks. When only the teeth of a shark species are preserved, life (ontogenetic) stages of individuals can be predicted in two different ways: (1) studying morphological features of the teeth during juvenile stages; and (2) extrapolating total length using the relationship between body size and tooth crown height. (1) In C. megalodon, teeth of juveniles sometimes demonstrate lateral cusplets [15] or not [22]. For example, UF 237914 (a lateral tooth) exhibits lateral cusplets and is assumed to be from a juvenile. On the other hand, UF 237959 (a lower anterior tooth) and UF 237949 (an upper anterior) are both very small teeth that exhibit no lateral cusplets (Figure 2). The latter teeth are small thick, heart-shaped, and are considered to represent embryonic C. megalodon teeth (Hubbell teeth). These latter teeth retain the morphology of the species even at small sizes and do no demonstrate lateral cusplets [22]. (2) Gottfried et al. (1996) [14] made inferences about the skeletal anatomy of C. megalodonbased on comparisons with ontogenetic trends in the white shark, Carcharodon carcharias. They deduced that a C. megalodon fetus could reach ∼4 m, juveniles ∼10.5 m, and adults more than 10.5 m (∼17 m). Based on crown heights (CH) and following the work of Shimada (2003) [39], we estimate the total lengths (TL) of C. megalodon specimens from the Gatun Formation (Table 1). Based on Gottfried et al.'s inferences, the total length estimates made in this research suggest that the C. megalodon specimens from the Gatun Formation represent mostly juveniles (21 individuals), with total lengths less than 10.5 m, while a few specimens (7 individuals) are interpreted as adults, with an estimated total lengths beyond 10.5 m (Figure 5)" Source: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0010552 (08-19-2019, 11:31 PM)Megalodon Wrote: Livyatan melvillei wasn't a match for the Megalodon. Cetaceans are no match for sharks at similar sizes or parity. Dolphins and Porpoises get destroyed by similar-sized sharks. A predatory shark's weaponry, power and durability is on another level from whales, Orca's etc... How you know that Livyatan was not a match, specially when it have the same size and "power"? Also, all the dolphins that I have saw killed by shark are relativelly smaller than they attackers, can you show me a document or a study that proves your point? You say that most animal experts "unanimously" aggred that Carcharocles (Otodus) megalodon was the superior predator, can you show a document or page shows all those statements, from all those experts? Orcas are very inteligent predators and certainly will avoid large sperm whales, but knowing that sharks are food for them, why you say that they will just "flee"? As far I know, the arise of orcas was other factor of the extinction of the Carcharocles (Otodus) megalodon. Finally, did you know that the largest whales that existed in the time of Carcharocles (Otodus) megalodon were no larger than 7-8 meters long, maybe up to 10 meters? So that will invalidate your proposal that a giant shark is capable of bite a whale by half, specially if you don't specify the size of the whale. I will leave this here, let's see what happen....   *This image is copyright of its original author
When there are nothing more left from megalodons, but teeth here and there it is difficult to say how many have died maybe a violent death by livyatans. Maybe megalodon was "lord of the ocean"... but was it undisputed or maybe had to be aware livyatans as much as vice versa...? If/when all what there is left from megalodons are some teeth, there is a lot of room for speculation.
If you @ You have made also good postings, but then some are just.... not so good. Separate your opinions from facts. If you have one documentary suggesting bigger figures than most scientific studies, it is simply dishonest to write like that one documentary would be the only truth. Especially if that documentary is with narrator, who tries to talk in as dramatic way as possible. In such case it is just one suggestion, possibility in "best case scenario". Not undisputed truth. Maybe better to focus to find good information, share it here and let people make their own conclusions. Of course if there is some part in text, which you find especially interesting, nothing wrong in pointing it out. But if you continue presenting clearly controversial things as facts, then moderators will do something. Idea here is not to create clear misinformation. 
Your discussion reminds me a book from Steve Alten "Megalodon" (1997 and the following years):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Alten I have only read the first novel of this serie: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meg:_A_Nov...eep_Terror Seriously it's for retarded persons. For exemple, at the first chapter of the book, during the Cretaceous era (???) a megalodon entered a creek where a t-rex hunted a couple of hadrosaurs in water (?). What do you believe it happened ? The megalodon killed the t-rex which for "the first time of its life knew what the fear is". But by crunching the t-rex a violent explosion occured ! The megalodon was a so huge beast it had invented the TNT 75 millions years before the men... Visceral memory of this reading... After i don't remember very well. The megalodon survived till now in the deepth of the oceans, clearly invulnerable, and decided to rise to the surface and thus was spotted by men who, because of its power feared for the balance of the marine environment. It caught an helicopter by jumping very very high out of water. It swallowed an insubmersible coming into the deep sea for watching it. At his moment, it is believed having a fatal indigestion. But don't be worry, the beast survives for the serie can be continued. At the second novel a maegalodon wiped out a pod of tylosaurus, one of the greatest mosasaurus, which were presented as being as intelligent as the extant orcas. Of course in order to reinforce the megalodon's power of destruction. After I surrendered and give up. When I read some "UNDISPUTED FACTS" showing clearly it was the most powerful beast that has ever existed, that "TONS OF EXPERTS" attested... Well I remind me this completely "grand guignol" books... |
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