In a North Carolina beach, visitors discovered several giant fossilized teeth and knew that these came from a shark. However, they were not aware that the teeth belonged to a prehistoric shark that was categorized as the biggest ever in the history of the Earth.
UPI reported that the shark teeth found in North Topsail Beach and Surf City, North Carolina, was from a megalodon, an ancient shark species that was about 60 feet long, three times bigger than a great white shark. In mid-October 2015, storms off the coast caused the tides to change, which may have caused the teeth to wash ashore from the ocean base.
The teeth are reportedly about 2.6 million years old at least, the time when the megalodon became extinct. In a span of 14 million years, the megalodon constantly grew in size, until it became the most dangerous predator in the ocean. Scientists are not exactly certain what caused the extinction of the swimming behemoth, although the theories include the cooling of ocean temperatures, the presence of an even more powerful predator that preyed on it and reduction of food supply.
Experts at the Aurora Fossil Museum in Aurora, North Carolina, told WITN that they can compare the teeth of the megalodon and modern sharks. They estimated that every inch of a fossilized shark tooth is equivalent to around 10 feet in shark. To conclude, a tooth measuring six inches would belong to a megalodon measuring about 60 feet in length.
CS Monitor revealed that the experts concluded that the mega-shark continued to grow in size for a long time, although they are not certain what caused the abnormal development. Its jaws were three times stronger compared to that of a Tyrannosaurus rex. The name “Megalodon,” means “big tooth” in ancient Greek. The term was first given by Swiss biologist Louis Aggasiz in 1843.
People today are more informed about these giant shark teeth. Before, fossilized teeth of the megalodon were believed to be the teeth or tongues of dragons or moon rocks. The coast of North Carolina is a popular site where fossilized teeth of the giant shark are found every now and then, experts stated. Other teeth have been spotted in the past, which suggested that the creature may have weighed anywhere between 70 and 100 tons, or up to 30 times more than the great white shark. There were teeth as large as a human hand.