ROMAN UCHYTEL/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY
Ancient megalodon sharks may have been at least 2 metres long at birth – and they might have grown so large by eating unhatched eggs in the uterus.
Kenshu Shimada at DePaul University in Chicago and his colleagues examined an
Otodus
megalodon fossil that was recovered in the 1860s from 15-million-year-old rock and is now housed at the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences. Studying the shark’s vertebrae, allowed them to estimate its body size at various stages in its life.
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“Megalodon’s size at birth was about 2 metres in total, which indicates that it must have given live birth like all present-day lamniform sharks do,” says Shimada.
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Megalodons dominated the oceans between 15m and 3.6m years ago (Getty Images/iStockphoto)
Giant megatooth sharks – among the largest predators ever to exist on Earth – grew so large by feeding on the unhatched eggs of their siblings in the womb, new research suggests.
Also known as Megalodons, the now-extinct carnivores dominated the oceans 15 million to 3.6 million years ago, growing up to 50 feet (15 metres) in length.
According to a new study published in the journal
Historical Biology, they were typically already larger than most humans when they emerged from the womb, with a length of around 6.6 feet.
Measuring up to 50 feet in length, gigantic megalodon sharks were once the most fearsome predators to roam the oceans.
Now, a new study suggests that even their babies were absolutely huge at birth, with most measuring larger than an adult human.
Rather gruesomely, the researchers believe that the shark babies likely grew to this size by feasting on unhatched eggs in the womb.
Adult megalodons, which swam the Earth s oceans roughly 15 to 3.6 million years ago, reached at least 50ft (15m) in length.
According to the study, from the moment of birth, megalodon – formally called Otodus megalodon – was already 6ft 7in (2m) long.
Megalodons had large babies that likely grew by eating eggs in womb – study eveningtelegraph.co.uk - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from eveningtelegraph.co.uk Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.