Could The Megalodon Shark Still Exist?

Whereas they could be one of the feared animals within the ocean, sharks and the little-known facts about them make them a number of the most fascinating — none extra so than the megalodon. With its large dimension and ferociousness, the megalodon was the apex predator of the ocean hundreds of thousands of years in the past earlier than changing into extinct. However like different monsters of the deep, may the megalodon shark nonetheless exist in far much less charted areas of the ocean? Some consider it’s attainable and a creature worth taking to the sea for.

Megalodon sharks struck concern into the mammals of the oceans till about 3.5 million years in the past. At the moment, they seemingly all disappeared. However with the huge enamel which can be positioned every now and then world wide, together with fossils found in the Southern US, theories refuse to die as to how it’s attainable that the megalodon may have survived for hundreds of thousands of years.

Theories, along side tales of sightings of large sharks, are why many refuse to consider that the megalodon shark is something however alive and nicely as we speak.

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Scientists Declare The Megalodon Might Not Exist Immediately

Scientists consider the megalodon shark went extinct 3.5 million years in the past

Megalodon shark

Megalodon sharks got here into existence roughly 16 million years in the past. They survived on a eating regimen of marine mammals, equivalent to whales, dolphins, sea lions, and extra. These species have been a lot smaller than what they’ve grown to grow to be as we speak. Again then, megalodon sharks needed to eat giant quantities of meals ceaselessly to keep up the vitality they wanted to help their dimension.

Ranging between 33 and 58 ft lengthy, the megalodon would swim in the identical hotter waters that its prey would swim in. However, when local weather change occurred and the ocean degree started to lower, extra of the ocean waters grew to become colder. Whereas the prey the megalodon ate tailored to the colder temperatures, the megalodon couldn’t. Thus, in line with scientists, the megalodon shark grew to become extinct roughly 3.5 million years in the past.

Had the megalodon survived, marine life as it is known today would look vastly different, in line with Jack Cooper, who’s a doctoral pupil at Swansea College and a member of Pimiento Analysis Group that research how marine life has developed over time.

Cooper went on to say, “A few of the largest marine mammals as we speak just like the blue whale solely developed after megalodon went extinct. So, in brief, the trendy day meals internet has partially been formed by megalodon not being there.”

As such, had the megalodon managed to outlive over the past three million years when it was believed to have been extinct, marine life wouldn’t have been capable of develop to the dimensions it’s as we speak. It is because the biggest whales do not need predators any longer, permitting them to develop as huge because the meals they eat permits them to.

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Might Megalodons Stay In The Deepest Elements Of The Ocean?

Many consider that the megalodon shark may dwell on the underside of the Mariana Trench

Megalodon shark

Regardless of not seeing a megalodon in current instances, many consider the explanation why that is the case is that megalodon sharks live in elements of the ocean which have but to be explored. With a lot of the ocean not being explored, this leaves hope for believers that the megalodon may nonetheless be alive.

A spot that also holds many mysteries, given it’s a place that has not been fully explored within the ocean, is the Mariana Trench, one of many deepest ocean locations in the world. Provided that sea creatures considered extinct have been discovered sometimes, the door has been left open for some who consider the megalodon shark may very well be swimming within the depths of the ditch simply ready to be found.

If this have been the case, the megalodon would look completely different from the massive shark that swam the oceans hundreds of thousands of years in the past. As a result of the megalodon would not be feeding off of bigger mammals within the ocean, its dimension would have dramatically decreased. It is because sea life dwelling within the depths of the ocean has a restricted meals provide. As such, they are typically smaller than people who dwell nearer to the floor.

A contemporary megalodon would as an alternative resemble “a sleeper shark—an extended, cigar-shaped animal that’s about as full of life because it sounds—versus a burly, toothy beast.”

Moreover, have been a megalodon to exist as we speak, scientists consider there would have been some signal of its existence. Be it chew marks on prey, in line with Craig McClain, the Govt Director of Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium, or the stays of what was eaten, like the large squid left behind, would have been seen alongside the way in which.

As such, if there have been megalodon sharks of their authentic dimension, there can be traces of them in some kind that might have been discovered through the years.

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Rumors Persist That The Megalodon Might Nonetheless Be Alive

Due to social media and movies of the unexplained, many consider the megalodon shark remains to be alive as we speak

Megalodon shark

Even with the proof that megalodon sharks grew to become extinct hundreds of thousands of years in the past, there are nonetheless rumors that persist that the sharks are alive as we speak because of social media. Because of this many consider that the megalodon is out within the ocean nonetheless, simply ready to be found.

In 2021, a TikTok video went viral after a large shark was seen within the waters off the coast of Massachusetts. The shark was large and regarded to fall inside the vary of what a megalodon shark can be. Nonetheless, it was later confirmed to be a basking shark, regardless of feedback claiming it was a megalodon.

In 2022, researchers from the Atlantic Shark Institute posted a picture to Instagram that was taken from their fish finder. It regarded like a megalodon. However, it was later decided to be a college of fish that have been within the form of the huge shark as an alternative.

Regardless of the image having a proof of what it was by researchers, the feedback acquired confirmed that followers believed within the megalodon.

Nonetheless, because of a video taken in 2018 of what appears to be a massive shark on the bottom of the Mariana Trench, the lore of the megalodon shark lives on. Whereas the shark was possible a sleeper shark, as a result of there is no such thing as a solution to show what it was based mostly on video alone, the assumption stands for a lot of that the megalodon shark nonetheless swims within the depths of the ocean as we speak and can make its presence recognized sooner or later.