Great South Gems & Minerals

• Megalodon Shark Tooth Replica •

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• Megalodon Shark Tooth Replica •

megalodon shark - carcharodon megalodon - big tooth

Any time we look at a fossil of an extinct animal, we can only guess at what the size of the animal would have been, what it ate, how it reproduced, the environment it lived in, etc., etc. This is true with Trilobites, Ammonites, Dinosaurs, and Megalodon sharks. About the only record we have of the Megalodon shark is its fossilized teeth, and occasionally a fossilized vertebral centra. Megalodon shark teeth have been found that measures over 7" in length.

From what fossil remains have been found of this enormous extinct shark, it is obvious that it was big. For many years scientist (paleontologist) have attempted to answer the question "HOW BIG WAS IT?"

Paleontologist can base size estimates of the Megalodon shark, on their modern descendants the Great White sharks. By using simple ratios, we know that a modern shark with a tooth of say 2" long would have come from a jaw so big, and the animal would have been so long. Using this line of reasoning, should we apply these same ratios to the size of the now extinct Megalodon shark, we can estimate the size of the Megalodon shark. How big the Megalodon shark was is a very controversial subject, and estimates range from 40 feet to 100 feet. Study of this subject shows that by far the main-stream paleontologist think the Megalodon shark would have reached lengths of between 40 feet to 50 feet in length and would have weighed about 48 tons.

Most scientist think the Megalodon shark existed from about 16 million years ago to as recent as about 15,000 years ago. Although the approximate time that these giant sharks became extinct is in much debate. Some scientist think the Megalodon became extinct about 1.5 million years ago.

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The scientific name for this shark species is carcharodon megalodon. From ancient Greek meaning "big tooth".

Here is a size comparison between Megalodon and a diver. (From: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.)

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