New research suggests that in-utero snacking helped make the megalodon the behemoth that it was.
Herschel Hoffmeyer / ShutterstockThese ancient oceanic fauna could go up to 100 twelvemonth and dominated Earth ’s oceans for millions of years .
Megalodonwas a massive 110,000 - pound prehistoric predecessor of advanced - Clarence Shepard Day Jr. sharks — and a new study has revealed that newborn megalodons were evenly menacing .
Not only were megalodon baby found to be large than most adult humans at nascence , but also that they cannibalise each other in the uterus .
Herschel Hoffmeyer/ShutterstockThese ancient oceanic beasts could live up to 100 years and dominated Earth’s oceans for millions of years.
issue in the journalHistorical Biology , the subject canvas 150 megalodon vertebra from a 15 million - year - erstwhile specimen that was find in Belgium in the 1860s . This was also the first time that researchers have been able to decide the size of these beasts , which could grow up to 50 understructure long , at birth .
Encyclopaedia Britannica , Inc./Patrick O’Neill RileyThe size of it of an average grownup megalodon compared to an mediocre adult human . An adult megalodon head can sweep 15 feet .
According toLiveScience , shark vertebrae develop outward in layers that can be study like tree rings in rules of order to learn age . Consequently , researchers took x - rays of this particular megalodon that testify 46 growth rings , intend the shark was 46 age old when it died .
Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc./Patrick O’Neill RileyThe size of an average adult megalodon compared to an average adult human. An adult megalodon head can span 15 feet.
researcher then calculated the shark ’s growth patterns by comparing these hoop with emergence bands in the shark ’s spinal cartilage and sour backward to the other hoop , or “ ring at birth . ” It record that the shark was six and a half feet prospicient at parentage .
“ To opine that a baby megalodon was nearly doubly as long as the great adult shark we examine is mind - boggling , ” said Matthew Bonnan of Stockton University .
“ It is quite possible that they stand for the declamatory baby in the shark world , ” add Kenshu Shimada , lead author and vertebrate paleontologist at DePaul University in Chicago .
DePaul University/Kenshu ShimadaThe annual growth bands (left) of the Belgium megalodon’s vertebra with the estimated silhouettes of the shark at birth and death (right) compared to the size of a typical human adult (bottom).
Shimada also fix that megalodons in utero were able-bodied to grow so large because they must have been feasting on the unhatched eggs of their siblings . Most sharks hachure from their eggs while inside the mother ’s body and are then birthed as live unseasoned .
“ It ’s this big , calorie - dense , alimental meal that can help those embryos get bigger , faster , ” explain Allison Bronson , whose work at Humbold State University in California concentre on the evolution of fish .
DePaul University / Kenshu ShimadaThe annual outgrowth bands ( provide ) of the Belgium megalodon ’s vertebra with the estimate silhouettes of the shark at birth and death ( right ) compare to the size of a typical human grownup ( bottom ) .
While in - utero cannibalism might seem counterproductive , researchers indicate that it might actually have evolutionary benefits for both the mother and offspring . “ Oophagy — egg - eating — is a way for a mother to nourish its embryo for an extended period of clip , ” said Shimada . “ The result is that , while only a few conceptus per mother will survive and recrudesce , each conceptus can become quite heavy at its birth . ”
This outgrowth ring test also showed that megalodons likely hire time to acquire humongous in the uterus as opposed to experiencing a growth spurt in its juvenility . As a result , the megalodon was born an apex marauder that did n’t have to compete for food or fear predators even as a young shark .
“ They could middling much do whatever they wanted , swim wherever they wanted , feed whatever they wanted , ” said shark investigator Jack Cooper at Swansea University in Britain .
This study is particularly significant as read about megalodon reproduction has been no easy chore for researchers . That is in part because shark skeletons are mostly comprise of cartilage and therefore degrade long before they can be studied for their biota .
However , there ’s still some debate about Shimada ’s study as this one specimen is unlikely to represent the average size of an entire coinage . For now , though , the finding seem nigh as colossal as the megalodon itself .
After learning about man - sized baby megalodons cannibalizing each other in the womb , understand aboutthe large dinosaur ever found that was ten times prominent than a T. Rex . Then , learn28 interesting shark fact that will surprise and stupefy you .
