Join CNN’s Surprise Idea science publication. Discover the universe with information on fascinating discoveries, scientific developments and extra.
Megalodons, the large prehistoric sharks depicted in motion pictures resembling “The Meg,” had extra slender our bodies than was beforehand thought, based on a brand new examine.
Many mysteries stay in regards to the biology of megalodons, however till now, nice white sharks had been used to mannequin their look. However new analysis from a group led by Kenshu Shimada, a paleobiologist at DePaul College in Chicago, and Phillip Sternes, a doctoral candidate on the College of California at Riverside, suggests megalodons would have had skinnier our bodies than nice whites.
The Otodus megalodon lived greater than 23 million years in the past. Fossils of the extinct big are onerous to come back by. Whereas there are many fossilized shark enamel, their our bodies primarily include cartilage relatively than bones, and are hardly ever preserved.
This new analysis is predicated on the reappraisal of an incomplete set of fossil vertebrae present in Belgium.
Whereas earlier analysis estimated that this explicit megalodon would have measured 9.2 meters (30.2 ft) in size, Shimada and his coauthors say the person would have actually measured at the very least 11.1 meters (36.4 ft).
Shimada instructed CNN that the fossil vertebrae wouldn’t have been robust sufficient to help a shark of this size if it had the identical physique form as an excellent white.
“If the physique type of the good white shark is instantly utilized to the vertebral column, the diameter of the vertebrae would then be unrealistically small for the shark to have the ability to help its physique,” he stated.
Shimada defined {that a} vertebral column of this diameter wouldn’t present adequate help for the muscle tissue of a physique form like that of an excellent white, and would additionally enhance the danger of spinal wire accidents.
“That is significantly vital contemplating that shark skeletons should not as robust as bones as a result of they’re cartilaginous (fabricated from cartilage),” he added.
He did be aware, nonetheless, that some shark species, together with megalodon, exhibit some strengthening of this cartilage by way of calcification, or a build-up of calcium that may then harden.
“The brand new examine considers the scale proportion between the vertebrae and physique in a extra biologically practical method, which might point out a leaner physique at the very least in comparison with the fashionable nice white shark,” he stated.
The analysis means that “the fashionable nice white shark could not essentially function a very good trendy analog for assessing at the very least sure points” of megalodon biology, stated Shimada.
“There are nonetheless many misconceptions or unanswered questions in regards to the biology of megalodon, and we wish to proceed to scientifically right or elucidate them based mostly on the fossil document,” he stated.
As issues stand, there’s solely a partial fossil document for the megalodon, and Shimada hopes an entire skeleton will likely be found sometime.
The examine was printed Sunday within the journal Palaeontologia Electronica.
Earlier analysis printed in August 2022 estimated the megalodon would have been in a position to devour prey the scale of orca whales – which might be as much as 26 ft lengthy and weigh greater than 8,000 kilos – in simply 5 bites.
The megalodon went extinct round 3.6 million years in the past, based on the UK’s Pure Historical past Museum, for causes scientists are nonetheless making an attempt to know.
One principle is that their demise was linked to the truth that they had been warm-blooded.
Earlier analysis by Shimada and others concluded that being warm-blooded could have been one of many key drivers fueling megalodons’ large dimension and general prowess as predators, but it surely additionally made them delicate to environmental modifications.
“The truth that megalodon disappeared suggests the doubtless vulnerability of being warm-blooded as a result of warm-bloodedness requires fixed meals consumption to maintain excessive metabolism,” Shimada instructed CNN in July final yr.
“Probably, there was a shift within the marine ecosystem as a result of climatic cooling,” inflicting the ocean degree to drop, altering the habitats of the populations of the sorts of meals megalodon ate up resembling marine mammals and resulting in its extinction.
CNN’s Amaya McDonald and Zoe Sottile contributed to this report.
For extra CNN information and newsletters create an account at CNN.com
