The megalodon, the largest predatory fish in Earth’s history, was a truly massive creature—measuring up to 24 meters long and weighing nearly twice as much as a truck with a trailer.
With hand-sized teeth and a bite force similar to an industrial hydraulic press, this ancient shark swam the oceans between 20 and 3 million years ago, hunting for huge amounts of food—around 100,000 kilocalories a day.
For a long time, scientists believed megalodons mainly hunted whales to meet their energy needs.
But a new study led by Dr. Jeremy McCormack from Goethe University Frankfurt paints a different picture.
The research, conducted with international scientists, found that megalodon may have had a much more varied diet than previously thought.
Since megalodons were made mostly of cartilage, fossilized teeth are almost the only remains we have.
In this study, the team focused on the zinc content in those teeth. Zinc comes in different forms called isotopes, and the way these isotopes are stored in an animal’s body depends on its diet.
Fish that eat other fish show different zinc isotope ratios than those lower down the food chain. By studying these ratios, researchers can figure out what kind of diet an animal had.
To get a clearer picture of who ate what millions of years ago, the team compared zinc isotope data from megalodon teeth with those from other ancient and modern sharks, as well as other animals.
Many of the fossil teeth came from deposits in southern Germany, where a shallow sea once existed around 18 million years ago. This area was full of marine life, including small and large sharks and early whales and dolphins.
Dr. McCormack explains that sea bream fed on shellfish and sat at the bottom of the food chain. Above them were medium-sized sharks and early marine mammals.
At the top were the giant sharks like megalodon. But the findings show that megalodon didn’t feed only at the top. Instead, it was flexible, eating both marine mammals and large fish—whatever was available.
This discovery changes the idea that megalodons were strict hunters of whales. It turns out they were more like opportunistic generalists. They adapted their diet based on what was around, which may have helped them survive in changing environments—at least for a while.
The new technique of studying zinc in teeth offers a powerful tool for understanding ancient ecosystems.
It helps scientists learn not only about extinct animals but also how ocean life has changed over time.
Still, as co-author Kenshu Shimada points out, even powerful super-predators like the megalodon were not safe from extinction.
Source: KSR.
