It was 16 meters long, weighed over 60 tons and could open its mouth almost two meters – as the largest shark ever to exist, the megalodon was at the top of the food chain during its lifetime, swallowing even huge prey the size of a modern-day killer whale in just a few bites .
That’s according to a 3D reconstruction of the extinct basking shark, based on a few skeletal fossils that have survived from the giants. With the disappearance of the giant, the ecology of the seas and life in them may have changed fundamentally, the researchers write in the journal Science Advances.
For their 3D model, however, the researchers led by Jack Cooper from Swansea University in Great Britain based themselves on the remains of some vertebrae of the basking shark, which were discovered in the 1860s and are kept in a museum in Belgium. They scanned the individual vertebrae and then digitally reconstructed the entire spine. An existing 3D scan of the megalodon teeth was added and finally the body scan of a great white shark was used as a template to encase the skeleton in flesh.
With the help of the finished 3D model, the researchers then calculated numerous physical features of the giant. “Weight is one of the most important characteristics of any animal,” said co-author John Hutchinson in a statement. “In extinct animals, we can estimate body mass using modern 3D digital modeling methods and then establish the relationship between mass and other biological properties such as speed and energy expenditure.”
The scientists calculated the animal’s approximate length of 16 meters and its weight of over 61 tons. They calculated that the shark needed around 98,000 kilocalories a day and its stomach could hold around 10,000 liters. The scientists assume that the high calorie requirement was covered, among other things, by the very energy-rich whale blubber, the insulating layer of blubber under the skin of the marine mammals. Megalodon bite marks are known from fossil whale bones.
In addition, such a meal would have fed the animal for weeks and also given it the opportunity to travel long distances without having to worry about foraging for food. According to the measurements, Megalodon plowed through the primordial seas with an average swimming speed of about five kilometers per hour. With its excrement, it transported important nutrients from one ocean area to the other, the scientists continue to report.
“These results suggest that this basking shark was a transoceanic super predator at the top of the food chain,” says study leader Catalina Pimiento from the University of Zurich. “The extinction of this iconic basking shark likely impacted global nutrient transport and relieved large cetaceans of intense predation pressure.”
