Megalodon was NOT cold-blooded, study finds

The thought of a shark 60 feet long with teeth the size of your hand is enough to send shivers down your spine.

But megalodon, the largest marine predator that ever lived, wasn’t a cold-blooded killer, a study suggests.

Analysis by environmental scientists has revealed that the terrifying shark was warm-blooded and could regulate its body temperature.

Based on analysis of tooth enamel, researchers found that the ancient species could maintain a body temperature about 7°C (13°F) higher than the surrounding water.

The temperature difference is greater than other sharks that lived alongside the megalodon and is large enough for the shark to be considered warm-blooded, the experts said.

And the discovery could help explain why it went extinct 3.6 million years ago — because it needed so much energy to stay warm.

Previous studies suggest that the megalodon reached lengths of at least 15 meters and possibly as much as 20 metres.

Lead researcher Robert Eagle, an assistant professor of atmospheric and oceanic sciences at the University of California, Los Angeles, said: “Studying the driving factors behind the extinction of a highly successful predatory shark such as megalodon may provide insight into the vulnerability of large marine predators. in modern ocean ecosystems experiencing the effects of ongoing climate change.’

Megalodons belonged to a group of sharks called mako sharks. Members of that group today include the great white shark and thresher shark.

While most fish are cold-blooded, with body temperatures similar to those of the surrounding water, mako sharks maintain the temperature of all or parts of their bodies slightly warmer than the water around them.

Megalodon’s warmer body allowed them to move faster, endure colder water, and spread around the world. But it was that evolutionary advantage that may have contributed to its demise, the researchers wrote.

The megalodon lived during the Pliocene, which began 5.33 million years ago and ended 2.58 million years ago.

Global cooling during that period caused sea level and ecological changes that the megalodon did not survive.

Randy Flores, who also worked on the study, said: ‘Maintaining an energy level that would allow for megalodon’s elevated body temperature would require a voracious appetite that may not have been sustainable in an age of shifting marine ecosystem balances, while it may even had to take on newcomers like the great white shark.”

The findings were published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

It follows a study from last year that concluded that the exact length the megalodon reached actually depended on water temperature.

The extinct creature grew to larger sizes in relatively cooler environments, such as North Carolina and Peru, than in warmer regions, such as Florida and Panama.

The findings are consistent with a principle known as Bergmann’s rule, whereby animals found in colder climates tend to be larger because larger size allows them to retain more heat.

The megalodon, whose name means “big tooth,” is typically portrayed as a super-sized, monstrous shark in novels and movies such as the 2018 sci-fi film “The Meg.”

While there is no doubt they existed or were gigantic, the megalodon (officially called Otodus megalodon) is only known from ancient fossilized teeth and vertebrae.

Academics hope that a full megalodon skeleton will one day be found, which can conclusively reveal what it looked like.