Exceptional discovery! Newborn megalodons were larger than an adult human

Exceptional discovery made by Chicago paleobiologists: the newborn megalodons were huge, over two meters long

He is about to end up run over, his mother saves him

The megalodon shark, an extinct species that lived in the oceans up to about three million years ago, is making a comeback. Recently, paleobiology researchers from DePaul University in Chicago they made an exceptional discovery: at their birth, megalodons were anything but small, measuring even 2 meters. They were, therefore, larger than an adult human being.

That these sharks were gigantic and that they even reached 15 meters in length as adults was already known, but so far there was not much information on the size of megalodon pups.

DePaul @ University / Kenshu Shimada

"The new study is truly the first of its kind regarding the megalodon and has given us a good insight into its size at birth, reproductive mode and growth pattern," announced Kenshu Shimada, paleobiology professor who led the research at DePaul University in Chicago.

The megalodon, whose scientific name Otodus megalodon means "big tooth", it is known for huge teeth. It is one of the largest carnivores that have inhabited our planet. This species has always fascinated scholars, but unfortunately what remains of these majestic creatures are precisely the fossil teeth. 

A fossil tooth from a megalodon compared to a tooth from a white shark (@ Mark_Kostich / Shutterstock)

To find out more about these extraordinary prehistoric animals, Kenshu Shimada performed a series of X-ray scans on a rare vertebra of a megalodon preserved in the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences di Bruxelles. Based on some comparisons with similar vertebrae belonging to white sharks, descendants of megalodons, it seems that the 15 cm wide fossil comes from a specimen nine meters long.

The scans revealed 46 growth bands in the fossil that scientists say indicate the specimen's years, just as tree rings reveal annual growth. Working backwards, the researchers speculate that the megalodon cub's body reached two meters.

"To think that a baby megalodon was nearly twice as long as the largest adult sharks we examine is astounding." pointed out Matthew Bonnan, a biology professor at Stockton University who analyzed the anatomy of the prehistoric creature with his students.

Given the large size from birth it is very likely that the megalodon cubs ate unhatched eggs in the uterus to survive, a phenomenon defined intrauterine cannibalism.

"The consequence is that only a few cubs survived and developed, but each of them could become large at birth, which gave them an advantage as large predators," clarifies Kenshu Shimada.

The researchers also traced a probable growth curve of the specimen, which is around 16 cm per year at least until the age of 46. According to scholars, the average lifespan of megalodons was at least 88 years.

Fonte: Historical Biology, EurekAlert

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