This week’s column has a decidedly prehistoric theme but not because I’m feeling old (ha-ha). Did you know that June 15 is National Megalodon Day? What is a megalodon? It was a shark, a really, really big shark that cruised the Earth’s oceans several million years ago. If you think the great white shark is scary-looking, consider these numbers. According to Wikipedia, the average length of a great white is between 11 and 19 feet, and its bite could produce as much as 4,000 pounds of force. The megalodon, on the other fin, whose average length has been estimated at 34 feet with a maximum length estimated anywhere from 47 to 67 feet, and a bite force capable of producing somewhere between 24,000 and 41,000 pounds of force, makes the great white shark looks positively wee and agreeable in comparison.
I’m sure it wasn’t all fun and games for the mega predator, especially when the ice age moved in and Mr. Jaws had to face the scariest predator of all: extinction. But like other prehistoric creatures, the megalodon didn’t completely leave the planet — we have the fossils to prove its mighty yet temporary residence on Earth. And when scientists study these fossils they can determine just how massive this primordial sea beast truly was. This means Meg was no megalomaniac concerning size: this shark was BIG.
Celebrate the mega-ness of the megalodon with this week’s titles. Sharks, megafauna and an iconic film about a man-eating shark are included for your reading and viewing pleasure.
- “Animals of a Bygone Era: An Illustrated Compendium” by Maja Safstrom.
- “Bring Back the King: The New Science of De-extinction” by Helen Pilcher.
- “Emperors of the Deep: Sharks, the Ocean’s Most Mysterious, Most Misunderstood, and Most Important Guardians” by William McKeever.
- “End of the Megafauna: The Fate of the World’s Hugest, Fiercest, and Strangest Animals” by R.D.E. MacPhee.
- “Giants of the Lost World: Dinosaurs and Other Extinct Monsters of South America” by Donald R. Prothero.
- “Jaws” by Peter Benchley.
- “Jaws” [DVD] directed by Richard Zanuck.
- “Resurrecting the Shark: A Scientific Obsession and the Mavericks Who Solved the Mystery of a 270-Million-Year-Old Fossil” by Susan Ewing.
