A fossil hunters duo in British Columbia, Canada, got a huge surprise when they came across a huge tooth believed to be from one of the largest extinct marine predators - megalodon!
Megalodon Tooth Found in Prince George
Rachel Shill Cook and her step-daughter, Addison Shill, were hiking along West Prince George's Nechako River. The pair was looking for crystals on April 11 when they discovered the rare find.
Cook told Newsweek they were taking their time to examine the ground because it was a new region for them. She then discovered a strange phenomenon.
She spotted what she believed to be an agate in the damp ground next to the water. At that time, only approximately a third of it was uncovered.
She had to dig the whole tooth and scoop it up with her fingers.
The tooth was nearly the size of half of her palm, and it looked extremely old. She initially thought it was from a shark but got confused because it was too big.
On April 16, Cook posted images of her discovery to The Fossil Forum on Facebook. The response was tremendous. Numerous people have contacted her, telling her she discovered a megalodon tooth.
The prehistoric predator known as the megalodon (Otodus megalodon) is believed to have roamed the waters at least 20 million years ago. According to estimates, gigantic sharks can reach lengths of up to 65 feet, and their teeth can frequently reach the size of a human palm.
Numerous forum users identified Cook's discovery as an Otodus obliquus tooth, the earliest known ancestor of the megalodon after she posted images of her find there.
How Did The Megalodon Tooth End Up in the Area?
The teeth of megalodon are most frequently discovered in Morocco, which has left many users perplexed about how this tooth ended up so far north.
According to Cook, the most typical explanations have been that prehistoric humans might have left it behind or that glacier displacement had brought it there. The fact that it turned into a fossil, traveled for eons, and eventually ended up in her house fascinated Cook.
She has spent her entire adult life enjoying rock and fossil hunting. Regardless of how [the tooth] arrived, Cook was overjoyed to find it. Over the years, she has unearthed many treasures, but none was so obviously a fossil.
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9-Year-Old Found 5-Inch Megalodon Tooth
In a previous report from Science Times, Molly Sampson, 9, searched for shark teeth with her family in Calvert Beach, Marland. Molly has been shark tooth hunting since she was 1. According to her mom, she would crawl along the beach.
She already has 400 shark teeth in her collection, but the biggest was the 5-inch megalodon tooth she found on Christmas morning. Molly took the tooth to Stephen Godfrey, curator of paleontology at the Calvert Marine Museum, and they confirmed that the tooth belonged to the extinct shark megalodon.
According to Godfrey, Megalodon teeth are occasionally discovered around Calvert Cliffs, but the size Molly found is unusual. Godfrey estimated the source to be between 45 and 50 feet long based on the size of the megalodon tooth Molly discovered. In addition, the expert determined that the tooth was roughly 15 million years old based on the location where it was discovered and the age of the sediments.
RELATED ARTICLE : Unbelievable! Study Reveals Actual Size of Megalodon Shark, One of the Largest Fish to Ever Exist
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