Evidence of Megatoothed Shark Attack on Whale 15 Million Years Ago Preserved in Ancient Tooth

Megalodon sharks were vicious predators that ruled the oceans millions of years ago. Evidence of their existence was seen on various fossils found throughout the years.

Scientists recently found the first evidence of an attack by a megatoothed shark on a whale after analyzing the ancient whale tooth.

Daily Mail reported that the ancient sperm whale tooth is 4.5 inches (116.5 millimeters) in length and sports three shark tooth marks wherein the two most prominent marks measure 11.5 millimeters and 23.5 millimeters in length.

Researchers believe that the whale was approximately four meters long and was attacked by either 'Otodus megalodon' or its ancestor 'Otodus chubutensis.'

Megatoothed Shark Attacked Sperm Whale

Although researchers could not estimate the size of the megatoothed shark that attacked the sperm whale that owns the fossilized tooth, they believe that the megatoothed shark was as big as the sperm whale.

Study lead author Stephen Godfrey told Daily Mail that modern great white sharks do not attack bigger animals. If megalodons work with the same principle, it is most likely that the shark that attacked the sperm whale was at least 15 feet long.

According to a recent study titled "Body Length Estimation of Neogene Macrophagous Lamniform Sharks (Carcharodon and Otodus) Derived From Associated Fossil Dentitions," published in Paleontologia Electronica, megalodons could grow up to 65 feet long, which is larger than what previous scientists have thought. More so, Oceana.org reported that modern sperm whales could also grow up to 52 feet and weigh 90,000 pounds.

Daily Mail further reported that study co-author Norman Riker, who died in January, discovered the fossilized tooth of the whale in the Nutrien Aurora Phosphate mine in Aurora, North Carolina. The mine was open to all fossil collectors back in the 1970s and 1980s. Researchers think the fossil could be 14 to 15 million years old or perhaps as recent as 5 million years old.

Researchers were also unsure whether the bite marks were made when the whale was alive or dead, although they suspected it was when the whale was still alive because of the force bite mark.

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Shark-Whale Brawl

According to Science Alert, Godfrey said that the fossilized tooth most likely came from an extinct species of a sperm whale that only measures about 13 feet (4 meters) long, much smaller than modern sperm whales that can measure up to 50 feet (15 meters).

Based on the three-bite marks on the tooth, they believe that either the megatoothed shark O. chubutensis from 28 million to 13 million years ago or its descendant O. megalodon from 20 million to 3.5 million years ago might have caused it since there are no known shark species from the phosphate mine to have teeth big enough as the measurements and serrations left on the ancient whale's tooth.

Paleontologist Alberto Collareta from the University of Pisa in Italy, who was not part of the study, said that the findings shed light on the ancient ecology of North Carolina.

Although he added that the bite marks on the tooth were not too surprising because even modern apex predators are known to eat the meaty tongues and blubbery throats of other whales, the ancient sperm whale must be rich with blubber that the megatoothed shark decided it was great food.

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