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The "King Shark" megalodon, 20 meters long and with a bite force greater than that of Tyrannosaurus rex, why did it disappear

author:Seven Worlds

The megalodon, which was in the ocean about 20 million years ago, was an extremely terrifying creature, the king of all sharks, a prehistoric giant that was 20 meters long and weighed about 100 tons.

The "King Shark" megalodon, 20 meters long and with a bite force greater than that of Tyrannosaurus rex, why did it disappear

The king of the shark world

Megalodon is the most terrifying marine predator, even the great white shark is eclipsed in front of him, some studies have shown that megalodon may be the strongest bite force on the earth, the maximum bite force is estimated to be about 20 tons, its oral bite force exceeds that of Tyrannosaurus rex, can easily crush the whale's ribs.

And all thanks to the three-meter blood basin mouth, and the sharp serrated teeth like an iron knife, I believe that no prey can withstand the huge bite force. And megalodon's teeth are constantly renewed and replaced, so hunting is not at all worried about tooth damage.

The "King Shark" megalodon, 20 meters long and with a bite force greater than that of Tyrannosaurus rex, why did it disappear

Megalodon is like a killing machine, dominating the entire ocean, it can prey on anything in the sea, but his favorite is still whales, from the excavated ancient whale fossils, many have the scars left by megalodon attacks, megalodon will often lurk on the bottom of the sea to raid passing prey.

The huge body is like a bus, the strong tail blow pushes it out of the water at high speed, with amazing strength and speed, the megalodon can bite the 9,000 kilogram giant whale, and strive to jump out of the water In just a moment, a good meal has been eaten, such a rapid hunting action, fully proves that the megalodon has the power to dominate the ocean.

Although it is already the overlord of the sea, like other creatures, megalodons also have to continue their offspring, biologists believe that prehistoric megalodons give birth to live juveniles like great white sharks, and newborn megalodons are two to three meters long. The docile, slow-moving manatee became the first meal of these baby sharks.

The "King Shark" megalodon, 20 meters long and with a bite force greater than that of Tyrannosaurus rex, why did it disappear

Compared to juvenile sharks, adult megalodons require a huge amount of food, consuming 600 to 1,200 kilograms of food per day, with such a large appetite, they can only maintain their life by constantly foraging, in addition to smaller baleen whales, they must also hunt larger prey.

Giant whales are a good choice, they are huge, this is simply a luxurious meal, to deal with these huge prey, megalodon has its own unique method, it will go around behind the whale to attack, and then bite the whale's tail fin until it completely breaks, the whale that loses the entire propulsion system will surely die.

In the next few days, this meal was enough to meet the needs of megalodons, but such good days are gradually disappearing, the temperature of the global sea is declining, resulting in a decrease in whale species, food-scarce megalodons face a crisis of survival, hungry their hunger for food is getting stronger and stronger, and even cannibalism.

The "King Shark" megalodon, 20 meters long and with a bite force greater than that of Tyrannosaurus rex, why did it disappear

Why did megalodon disappear?

The environment became increasingly harsh, and the descendants could not be continued until 1.8 million years ago, when the megalodon disappeared from the fossil record, which also represented the complete extinction of the species.

However, some scientists believe that the megalodon shark is not extinct, but over a long period of time, like other creatures, it has gradually evolved into other sharks, and the great white shark is more like a scaled-down version of the sawtooth shark, but this conclusion needs further research.

In 1843, biologists found through the analysis of shark races that most of the body of megalodon is composed of cartilage, and cartilage fossils are extremely difficult to preserve, which makes it difficult for humans to find its complete skeleton.

The "King Shark" megalodon, 20 meters long and with a bite force greater than that of Tyrannosaurus rex, why did it disappear

According to the mainstream view, the extinction of megalodon was caused by the radiation produced by the supernova explosion at that time, because scientists found the rare isotope iron hexazero in the chemical composition of its teeth, which is an isotope that does not exist on Earth and is only produced when a supernova explosion occurs.

At the same time that the megalodon disappeared, it was found that other life on Earth was also greatly reduced, and there are indications that the radiation generated by the supernova explosion is likely to be the cause of the megalodon's extinction.

However, so far, there are still many people who believe that megalodon is not extinct, they believe that only 5% of the ocean is currently explored, and the remaining 95% of the area is completely unknown, and megalodon is likely to live in this unexplored sea.

The "King Shark" megalodon, 20 meters long and with a bite force greater than that of Tyrannosaurus rex, why did it disappear

Theoretically, the current food web structure in the marine ecosystem cannot support the existence of megalodon-like predators, and larger cetaceans such as blue whales cannot evolve smoothly, on the contrary, they are likely to be completely killed by megalodons.

And since the birth of human civilization, there have never been any incidents of megalodon attacking ships, so megalodon should have been extinct long before humans appeared, and it is not difficult to imagine how terrible it would be if megalodon still exists today.

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