The Almighty Megalodon

 
Imagine a Great White Shark. Now, make that shark bigger. Even bigger. Make that shark 60 feet long. Now, imagine that the Great White's teeth are 7 inches. This image should look pretty similar to the largest shark to ever live: the Megalodon. The Megalodon lived from around 16 mya to 2 mya.  It was the largest shark to ever live and had the strongest, most powerful bite of any creature. It used this powerful bite to rip off whale fins in order to disable their oversized prey. To be big enough to go after whales, Megalodons grew up abnormally fast. Baby Megalodons became adults very soon and thus could go after big prey very soon. This monster shark ruled the oceans all over the world. Fossils of the Megalodon have been found all over the world, but the giant shark seemed to disappear from the fossil record around 2 mya for no particular reason.

No one is entirely sure how or why it went extinct, though there are theories. As the Megalodon began to evolve, it grew quicker and bigger to avoid being preyed on, which may have led to them running out of food resources. Before they ran out however, they may have turned to cannibalism, as there were tooth marks found on other Megalodon teeth. This could've simply been from new teeth growing over old ones though. Another theory of as to why they went extinct is that the changing ocean climate wasn't good for the sharks. They may have not adapted fast enough to the cooling waters and slowly died off because of it. 

Even though the Megalodon is extinct, it's left a huge mark in both the science world and the pop culture world. Shark Week, a popular Discovery Channel program, began showing specials on the Megalodon that led people to believe it still exists. This is very unlikely, considering that the giant was missing from fossil records after about 2 mya, but that hasn't stopped people from believing. If the Megalodon did live on, that would be bad news for anyone scared of sharks. 

References

Megalodon: The Monster Shark's Dead. (n.d.). Retrieved September 18, 2014, from National Geographic website: http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2014/08/13/megalodon-the-monster-sharks-dead/

The Real Megalodon: Prehistoric Shark Behind Doc Uproar. (n.d.). Retrieved September 18, 2014, from National Geographic website: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/08/130807-discovery-megalodon-shark-week-great-white-sharks-animals/

10 Facts About Megalodon. (n.d.). Retrieved September 21, 2014, from About website: http://dinosaurs.about.com/od/otherprehistoriclife/a/megalodon-facts.htm