Triops Longicaudatus
Triops Longicaudatus Red
Triops Longicaudatus
Triops Longicaudatus Red
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New study reveals surprising dietary diversity of the megalodon
For a long time, the megalodon was considered the epitome of the fearsome super predator of the primeval seas. With a length of up to 25 metres, a mouth that could swallow even whales and teeth as big as human hands, the extinct basking shark looked like a biological fighting machine. However, a research team from Goethe University Frankfurt has now drawn a much more nuanced picture of the monstrous hunter – and shows that the megalodon was probably an ecological opportunist with a varied diet.
From myth to science
In pop culture, the megalodon lives on as a bloodthirsty monster – most recently in the blockbusters ‘Meg’ and ‘Meg 2: The Deep’. Researchers have also long assumed that the prehistoric giant specialised primarily in marine mammals, including early whales and dolphins. This idea is now beginning to falter.
An international research team led by Jeremy McCormack from the Institute of Geosciences in Frankfurt has analysed fossil megalodon teeth using an innovative zinc isotope method. The results, published in the journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters, suggest that the megalodon was not a pure specialist – but a generalist that ate both large fish and marine mammals.
Searching for traces in zinc
The new findings are based on a highly precise isotope analysis. The researchers utilised the fact that zinc is stored in muscles and organs in a characteristic way when animals eat. The higher up an animal is in the food chain, the lower its proportion of the heavy isotope zinc-66 compared to the lighter zinc-64.
Comparisons with fossilised teeth of other shark species and modern-day predatory fish allowed conclusions to be drawn about the trophic position of the megalodon. And this was indeed high – but not exclusively orientated towards large marine mammals.
In this former marine environment, the giant apparently hunted everything it could catch: smaller sharks, bony fish and marine mammals. Its range of prey varied depending on the region and ecosystem. According to McCormack, this ecological adaptability is remarkable.
A new image of the primeval hunter
The new findings significantly change the picture of the largest known shark in the history of the earth. Instead of an apex predator specialising in whales, a versatile generalist prey species is now emerging that played a key role in its ecosystem, but acted far less unilaterally than previously assumed.
This makes it clear that the true terror of the seas was not so much a film monster as an ecologically adaptable survivor – and a prime example of how modern methods of analysis help us to see the depths of the earth’s history with new eyes.
