While the mighty megalodon (Otodus megalodon) went extinct about 3.6 million years ago, its grip on popular culture remains strong. However, the ‘meg’ may not have been as large as scientists previously believed. A study published January 21 in the journal Palaeontologia Electronica proposes that the megalodon was likely more slender than other studies previously suggested. However, the revised anatomical theory for the underwater legend does not compromise its apex predator status.
[Related: Megalodons were likely warm-blooded, despite being stone-cold killers.]
The megalodon swam in the Earth’s oceans over 23 million years ago. While paleontologists have found many fossilized teeth, their bodies were mainly built from cartilage instead of bones. Cartilage is rarely preserved in the fossil record, making a full skeleton difficult if impossible to find. This has made the apex predator’s true size a decades-long paleontological mystery.
The new study is based on an incomplete set of fossil vertebrae at the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences in Brussels, Belgium. Previous research estimated that this specific megalodon would have been 30.2 feet long and that some megalodons could grow to 50 to 65 feet long and could snack on animals as large as orca whales.
Paleontologists have historically used modern great white sharks as a stand-in model for reconstructing megalodon bodies. A 2022 study reconstructing the megalodon based on the same skeleton in Belgium proposed that the ancient shark relative was potentially a stocky and powerful fish that was built for bursts of speed similar to the modern great white shark. However, the new study casts doubts on its size estimate.
A team of 26 scientists from institutions around the world reexamined the megalodon vertebrae and compared them to living sharks. They now believe that the strength of the spinal column suggests that the megalodon would have had a more slender…
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