The Truth About megalodon extinction Fighting with great white sharks?

Megalodon is an extinct prehistoric shark that is the largest shark with bite force. Recent studies have found that the extinction of megalodon sharks may be related to the great white shark of the same period...

Megalodon

The megalodon, also known as the megalodon shark, is an extinct prehistoric shark that lived between 23 million and 2.6 million years ago and is the largest shark ever.

Megalodon sharks are estimated to be 20.3 meters long, averaging between 16 and 18 meters, weighing up to 103 tons and weighing an average of between 60 and 70 tons. In contrast to its huge size, megalodons have the highest level of bite force from ancient times to the present, about 28 to 36 tons, and can easily bite through the bones of cetaceans, and it is speculated that megalodon sharks usually feed on cetaceans.

Megalodon's whole body indicates that it is the top predator in the sea, and any creature can be regarded as its prey, at the top of the pyramid of the marine food chain at that time, competing with Melville whales and butkek sharks, which were also the top predators at the time.

Extinction truth

Recently, the scientific journal Nature Communications published an article about the possible causes of the extinction of the megalodon shark, speculating that it may compete with the great white shark for food sources, and finally lose the competition and become extinct.

An animal's nutritional grade symbolizes its position in the ecosystem, and understanding diet is important for studying the habits and ecological characteristics of a species. One way to understand diet is zinc, which is mixed in with tooth enamel formation and can be used as an alternative indicator to understand the animal's dietary pattern and determine what the organism's nutritional level is in the ecosystem.

Megalodon is an extinct prehistoric shark that is the largest shark with bite force. Recent studies have found that the extinction of megalodon sharks may be related to the great white shark of the same period...

Megalodon

The megalodon, also known as the megalodon shark, is an extinct prehistoric shark that lived between 23 million and 2.6 million years ago and is the largest shark ever.

Megalodon sharks are estimated to be 20.3 meters long, averaging between 16 and 18 meters, weighing up to 103 tons and weighing an average of between 60 and 70 tons. In contrast to its huge size, megalodons have the highest level of bite force from ancient times to the present, about 28 to 36 tons, and can easily bite through the bones of cetaceans, and it is speculated that megalodon sharks usually feed on cetaceans.

Megalodon's whole body indicates that it is the top predator in the sea, and any creature can be regarded as its prey, at the top of the pyramid of the marine food chain at that time, competing with Melville whales and butkek sharks, which were also the top predators at the time.

Extinction truth

Recently, the scientific journal Nature Communications published an article about the possible causes of the extinction of the megalodon shark, speculating that it may compete with the great white shark for food sources, and finally lose the competition and become extinct.

An animal's nutritional grade symbolizes its position in the ecosystem, and understanding diet is important for studying the habits and ecological characteristics of a species. One way to understand diet is zinc, which is mixed in with tooth enamel formation and can be used as an alternative indicator to understand the animal's dietary pattern and determine what the organism's nutritional level is in the ecosystem.

The researchers analyzed all of the world's modern shark teeth and fossil shark teeth, including fossil tooth of megalodons and teeth of modern great white sharks, to detect the ratio of zinc stable isotopes in their teeth. This new method allows scientists to understand their nutritional levels, says Professor Thomas Tuttken of the Institute of Earth Sciences at the University of Johannes Gutenberg-Mainz in Germany: "We have demonstrated for the first time that the highly mineralized enamel crown contained in fossil shark teeth preserves the zinc isotopic characteristics associated with dietary habits. ”

The team built a database of zinc isotopes for shark teeth, which contains 20 extant shark species in aquariums and in the wild, as well as 13 fossil species including megalodon sharks. The researchers found that the teeth of sharks of any age preserved zinc isotopes, which could show the nutritional level of the species. Co-author of the paper, Professor Sora King of the University of California, Merced, explains: "We noticed that fossils are consistent with zinc isotope signals in modern similar taxa, and this finding increases our confidence in this approach. It means that on the basis of the marine food chain, there may be minimal differences in zinc isotope values, which is a confusing factor in nitrogen isotope studies. ”

The researchers analyzed the proportions of zinc isotopes in the teeth of early Pliocene megalodons and early Miocene megalodons, as well as contemporaneous and modern great white sharks, to investigate their status in the ecosystem at the time and their influence on each other. Professor Michael Griffiths of William Patterson University said: "Our findings show that the ancestors of megalodons and great white sharks are indeed top predators, and they are high in their respective food chains. However, it is worth noting that the zinc isotope values of early Pliocene shark teeth found in North Carolina showed that the nutritional levels of early great white sharks were heavier than those of megalodon sharks

Megalodon is an extinct prehistoric shark that is the largest shark with bite force. Recent studies have found that the extinction of megalodon sharks may be related to the great white shark of the same period...

Megalodon

The megalodon, also known as the megalodon shark, is an extinct prehistoric shark that lived between 23 million and 2.6 million years ago and is the largest shark ever.

Megalodon sharks are estimated to be 20.3 meters long, averaging between 16 and 18 meters, weighing up to 103 tons and weighing an average of between 60 and 70 tons. In contrast to its huge size, megalodons have the highest level of bite force from ancient times to the present, about 28 to 36 tons, and can easily bite through the bones of cetaceans, and it is speculated that megalodon sharks usually feed on cetaceans.

Megalodon's whole body indicates that it is the top predator in the sea, and any creature can be regarded as its prey, at the top of the pyramid of the marine food chain at that time, competing with Melville whales and butkek sharks, which were also the top predators at the time.

Extinction truth

Recently, the scientific journal Nature Communications published an article about the possible causes of the extinction of the megalodon shark, speculating that it may compete with the great white shark for food sources, and finally lose the competition and become extinct.

An animal's nutritional grade symbolizes its position in the ecosystem, and understanding diet is important for studying the habits and ecological characteristics of a species. One way to understand diet is zinc, which is mixed in with tooth enamel formation and can be used as an alternative indicator to understand the animal's dietary pattern and determine what the organism's nutritional level is in the ecosystem.

The researchers analyzed all of the world's modern shark teeth and fossil shark teeth, including fossil tooth of megalodons and teeth of modern great white sharks, to detect the ratio of zinc stable isotopes in their teeth. This new method allows scientists to understand their nutritional levels, says Professor Thomas Tuttken of the Institute of Earth Sciences at the University of Johannes Gutenberg-Mainz in Germany: "We have demonstrated for the first time that the highly mineralized enamel crown contained in fossil shark teeth preserves the zinc isotopic characteristics associated with dietary habits. ”

The team built a database of zinc isotopes for shark teeth, which contains 20 extant shark species in aquariums and in the wild, as well as 13 fossil species including megalodon sharks. The researchers found that the teeth of sharks of any age preserved zinc isotopes, which could show the nutritional level of the species. Co-author of the paper, Professor Sora King of the University of California, Merced, explains: "We noticed that fossils are consistent with zinc isotope signals in modern similar taxa, and this finding increases our confidence in this approach. It means that on the basis of the marine food chain, there may be minimal differences in zinc isotope values, which is a confusing factor in nitrogen isotope studies. ”

The researchers analyzed the proportions of zinc isotopes in the teeth of early Pliocene megalodons and early Miocene megalodons, as well as contemporaneous and modern great white sharks, to investigate their status in the ecosystem at the time and their influence on each other. Professor Michael Griffiths of William Patterson University said: "Our findings show that the ancestors of megalodons and great white sharks are indeed top predators, and they are high in their respective food chains. But it's worth noting that zinc isotopes from early Pliocene shark teeth found in North Carolina revealed that the nutritional levels of early great white sharks overlapped to a large extent with megalodons. ”

From the above findings, it seems that megalodons and great white sharks overlapped at the trophic level when they coexisted in the early Pliocene, and may compete with each other for the same food resources, professor Kenshu Shimada of DePaul University in Chicago said: "These results may indicate that the prey of these two sharks has at least some overlap." While further research is still needed, the results appear to support the possibility of dietary competition between megalodons and great white sharks in the early Pliocene. ”