Not too big to disappear - 22 August 2022

The megalodon was once the largest shark on Earth, but they became extinct over three million years ago.

The megalodon had 276 huge teeth and swam the Earth's oceans between 22 million years ago until it disappeared. It gets its name from its large teeth. The megalodon was huge. It could weigh up to 60 tonnes and grow to 18 metres, three times the size of a great white shark.

Their extinction remained a mystery. Lack of food and changes in sea level were blamed. However, scientists now have a new theory as to why they became extinct. They compared the teeth of the ancient sea giants with the teeth of modern sharks. They concluded that they had serious competition for food from the great white shark.

In these recent studies, scientists compared chemicals found in the teeth of the megalodon and living sharks. The chemical found in the teeth, zinc, suggested that the extinct shark hunted whales, dolphins and porpoises, just as the great white sharks still do today. Both sharks competed for food to survive, so this might be the reason for the megalodon's extinction.

Professor Thomas Tütken says that this is the piece of evidence that was missing.