Megalodon - Bigger than you can imagine!

 Hello kids! Welcome back to KidsCast! Long time no see! But don't worry today we are going in past at the time where there was a large water animal, not large but very very large because as you see the topic itself bigger than you can imagine! 

What was the Megalodon?

The word megalodon means the big tooth! The scientific name for this prehistoric shark is Carcharocles Megalodon. It is the largest shark ever lived on earth! It lived around 2.3 to 3.6 million years back. It had no predators so it was not afraid of any animal. While humans have been measured to have a force of around 1317 newtons (the SI unit to measure force), researchers estimated that this shark had a force between 1,08,514 and 1,82,201 newtons, according to the study of NHM. As its name meant big tooth so of course it had specialty in its tooth. The size of it tooth was between 6.5 inches  and 8 inches.

Size: 

The size of an adult megalodon was 60 feet and it weighed 1,110 Kg. The size of its pup called meg pup was around 10 feet and approximately weighed 226 Kg. The meg pup's size is that of an adult great white shark so it could start hunting as soon as it was born. 

Food eaten: 

It fed on large animals such as whale, seals, dolphins, sea turtles and other big sharks.

 

How it ate?

It used its large teeth to first swallow the fin of the prey, because of this the prey could not run away. As soon this happened the prey's body started to fill with water and bones started to break making it heavier and then it was eaten up by the megalodon easily.

Where did it live?

The megalodon lived mostly in those parts of the world where it was warm. It avoided to live in areas and oceans near the poles which are arctic and Antarctica. It usually tried to hunt at the places where the ocean or the sea was shallower. This is the reason why we generally do not find its fossils and evidences near the poles. 

But are there evidences really? 

And the answer to this question is Yes, there are evidences about this animal. Many researchers found its tooth on the seashores of many parts of the world but mostly in the areas of Australia, Florida, Carolina etc. because of there humid and hot weather. 

Trivia time!

Now you are going to read about some facts related to megalodon!

1. It was mostly made up of cartilage, but its teeth and vertebrae bones weren't so these are generally found as its fossils. As these fossils were very old it proves that these lived long back. 

2. Megalodon had 276 jagged teeth, perfect for tearing and eating the flesh. 

3. Its teeth were so strong that it could cut the prey like knives. But it took thousands of years until this tooth could evolve into its final, flat, blade-like structure but the reason is still not known. 

4. The meg's (megalodon) ancestors had mini-teeth bordering the main tooth which were very helpful for gasping fast swimming fish. 

5. The blade teeth could tear the flesh of any animal in just a strike. 

How did it go extinct?

According to scientists, this specie got extinct because the earth had started to cool down and started losing its heat and because other animals were adaptable to this temperature they started to move towards the cold places where living was comfortable for them as they were also safe from the meg now. As the meg lived in shallower and warmer places it didn't adapt itself to the cool temperature and even didn't move towards the polar regions and stayed in other regions of the world which still had some warmth. As the meg was not adaptable to this cool temperature, if it would have moved towards the polar regions it could have got frozen into ice. This also led to the extinction of the great white shark as this great white shark used to use its high swimming speed so it used to gobble up the food of meg. But because the animals moved away both didn't have the food leading to extinction. 

Are there any chances of living?

"No, they are not in the oceans anymore and not even in the deeper points." The discovery channel said that earlier. As the food of the meg was above the seabed there was no need to hide down the ocean. But the recent studies tell that there is still 1% chance of it as living because it can live near the deepest point on the earth the Mariana Trench! Because humans have discovered only 5% of the ocean and nobody has ever reached the Mariana Trench there is a chance of it as living. 

So, kids this was all about this article. Hope you enjoyed knowing about such an interesting animal. Didn't you? So, for now we have to say goodbye but don't worry we will be soon back again with many more interesting posts. Till then Happy Learning! Stay Happy!