Is the megalodon still alive? 'No. It's definitely not alive in the deep oceans, despite what the Discovery Channel has said in the past,' notes Emma. 'If an animal as big as megalodon still lived in the oceans we would know about it.'
The answer to the megalodon question is a resounding NO. Megalodon went extinct around 3.5 million years ago.
The deep ocean is too cold for them to survive. Megalodons were extremely large animals that ate other extremely large animals. Nothing big enough or numerous enough to sustain them lives in the Mariana Trench.
Megalodon did not overlap with modern humans whose first occurrence was around 100,000 years ago. TEACHER: Megalodon's relatives include ancient fish and sharks whose first occurrences are estimated at 510 million years ago and 435 million years ago, respectively.
Megalodons are extinct. They died out about 3.5 million years ago. And scientists know this because, once again, they looked at the teeth.
Megalodons succumbed to global cooling due to the shrinking of their habitat, the vanishing of their favorite prey, and competition from other predators 3.5 million years ago.
The proposed shape of a megalodon is therefore based on the anatomy of living sharks. Modern research shows that the megalodon is most closely related to mako sharks, not to the Great White.
Megalodon vs.
When it comes to size, the blue whale dwarfs even the largest megalodon estimates. It's believed blue whales can reach a maximum length of 110 feet (34 meters) and weigh up to 200 tons (400,000 pounds!). That's more than twice the size of even the largest megalodon size estimates.
His largest monster, a 17-foot Great White Shark weighing 3,427 pounds, in some record books still remains the largest fish ever caught by rod and reel. Mundus moved to Montauk from New Jersey in 1951 to pursue a career catching groundfish (Striped Bass, Black Seabass, Bluefish etc).
Without sharks as apex predators, the entire ocean ecosystem could fall out of balance. They not only maintain the species below them in the food chain, but also indirectly maintain seagrass and coral reef habitats.
A very small portion of the Zurich study's data — 6 out of 10,000 simulations — showed a 1% chance that these giant sharks could still be alive.
The largest great white recognized by the International Game Fish Association (IGFA) is one caught by Alf Dean in southern Australian waters in 1959, weighing 1,208 kg (2,663 lb).
Tiger Shark
Tiger Sharks can be found along the waters of the eastern, western, and northern coast of Australia. Tiger Sharks are very large sharks that grow between 10 and 13 ft (3.25-4.25 m) and weigh around 849-1,400 lb (385-635 kg).
The great white shark has killed the most humans resulting in 52 known fatalities, though roughly 300 unprovoked attacks are recorded from the great white.
Far bigger than any dinosaur, the blue whale is the largest known animal to have ever lived. An adult blue whale can grow to a massive 30m long and weigh more than 180,000kg - that's about the same as 40 elephants, 30 Tyrannosaurus Rex or 2,670 average-sized men.
The mythical kraken may be the largest sea monster ever imagined. Some stories described it as more than 2.5 kilometers (1.5 miles) around with arms as large as ship's masts.
We have other evidence of megalodon's feeding habits in the form of fossilised whale bones. Some of these have been found with the cut marks of megalodon teeth etched in the surface. Others even include the tips of teeth broken off in the bone during a feeding frenzy that occurred millions of years ago.
Some megalodons are estimated to have been much larger―as long as 50 feet. Using the data from this study, together with previous research, the researchers concluded that the potential lifespan of megalodons was 88-100 years.
The Daily Star reports that scientists have discovered that the largest beast to have roamed the Earth on land or water was the terrifying 115ft-long ichthyosaur. Experts have dubbed the huge beast a 'super-predator' due to its jaw-dropping size.
Mature megalodons likely did not have any predators, but newly birthed and juvenile individuals may have been vulnerable to other large predatory sharks, such as great hammerhead sharks (Sphyrna mokarran), whose ranges and nurseries are thought to have overlapped with those of megalodon from the end of the Miocene and ...
As of yet, no one has seen a Megalodon, also known as a Megatooth shark, which reportedly went extinct around 2.58 million years ago, according to the Encyclopedia Britannica.
This data suggests that mature adult megalodons had a mean length of 10.2 metres (about 33.5 feet), the largest specimens measuring 17.9 metres (58.7 feet) long.
Megalodon, the biggest shark that ever lived, may have been killed off thanks to the success of the great white, new research suggests. A study of elemental traces in their teeth implies the huge sea monster faced competition for resources from its smaller and more nimble rival, say scientists.
Simon Nellist was killed when a great white attacked him in the waters near Sydney in February 2022. A member of Australia's Parliament said at the time that Nellist, a diving instructor, swam in the area nearly every day, according to BBC News.