Monster Megalodon Still Alive Under The Sea?

If you were to travel back in time by some million years ago, I would highly recommend staying on the shore or at the very least, not going too far out into the sea unless you were able to bring a massive ship back with you.  The reason for my warning is due to my having learnt about a creature which inhabited the oceans back then, a prehistoric shark that makes its modern day ancestor, the Great White Shark, look like a lone piranha.  Ironically many experts believe that this predator is a prehistoric cousin of the Great White.

Image via Wikipedia

So what is this predator?  Well the name for this creature is known amongst archaeologists, etc. as the Megalodon.  The best way to describe what Megalodon looked like would be like Jaws but bigger and more aggressive.  According to archaeologists, Megalodons tended to grow to about 55-60 feet in length, about three times the size of the shark in the Jaws movies (which was meant to be a Great White Shark).

Yet there are major differences between these two sharks (apart from their size).  Studies on the remains of these sharks’ fossils have found that their main diet tended to be giant whales, such as the Blue whale.  It is generally believed by researchers that unlike their modern day predecessors who drag with their prey under the water to devour, Megalodons tended to attack their prey (i.e. whales) by biting their fins off, leaving them unable to swim.  Once paralysed, the Megalodon would finish off the rest of its prey on the spot.

Now if you were a sea animal back then, the strategy which Megalodon may use to attack you wouldn’t be the only thing to fear for according to team of researchers, Megalodons have the most powerful bite ever amongst all animals.  To give you an example of how powerful their bites were, computer stimulations from joint research US/Australia team has revealed that

• a Lions bite equates to 600lbs in pressure
• a Great White Shark bite equals 1.8 tons in pressure
• Megalodon bite produces somewhere between 10-18 tons in pressure

Thankfully though, Megalodons are now extinct from the face of the Earth, or are they?  According to fossil finds, whilst most tended to date back to over million years ago, a fossil found early last century which on testing, revealed to be only 11,000 years old.  Whilst this seems like a long time, it is hardly any time at all.  Many creatures which have long been thought to be dead for far longer period of time have found to be still alive and well.

Also, most of the world’s oceans have yet to be explored.  In fact it has been said that we know more about the surface of the moon than we do about some of the oceans greatest depths.  As well as eye witness accounts from certain individuals throughout the ages from sailors, fishermen, etc., of giant sharks.  There haven’t been any reports I’m aware of people being attacked by these creatures, but maybe that could because those who have don’t survive to tell the story.

So if you were to somehow go back in time to explore the prehistoric oceans of the past, I would at very least recommend that you take something with you larger than a rowing boat or schooner!