Not just sharks and whales: giant megalodon’s true prey finally revealed

The megalodon, an extinct shark that is the largest predatory fish ever known to have existed, appears to have had a much wider diet than previously thought.

That’s the verdict of a new study carried out by a global group of scientists hailing from Austria, France, Germany and the United States.

An animal now believed to have measured up to about 80 feet in length, the megalodon roamed the prehistoric oceans for around 17 million years, before becoming extinct around three million years ago.

Megalodon a “versatile” eater

A shark whose name means “big tooth”, the megalodon has long been thought to have fed chiefly on large animals at the top of the food chain.

However, a team of researchers led by Dr. Jeremy McCormack, a geoscientist at Goethe University Frankfurt, now contends that the megalodon was in fact a “versatile generalist” when it came to eating.

How did the megalodon study work?

The scientists arrived at this conclusion by studying fossils of the megalodon’s huge teeth, which are known to have grown to as much as seven inches in length.

After studying samples of the chemical element zinc taken from the teeth, the researchers compared what they found with the zinc extracted from the teeth of other animals understood to have been in the shark’s food chain.

“Sea bream, which fed on mussels, snails and crustaceans, formed the lowest level of the food chain we studied,” Dr. McCormack told a press release. “Smaller shark species such as requiem sharks and ancestors of today’s cetaceans, dolphins and whales, were next.

“Larger sharks such as sand tiger sharks were further up the food pyramid, and at the top were giant sharks like Araloselachus cuspidatus and the Otodus sharks, which include megalodon.”

Typically, species that feed on prey at the bottom of the food chain can be expected take on board more of a specific variant of zinc - an isotope known as zinc-66 - than those that only eat prey higher up the pyramid.

But Dr. McCormack’s team found that the zinc-66 content in the megalodon teeth they studied did not differ as greatly as expected from that of species lower down the food chain.

This appears to suggest that the giant shark did not only concentrate on eating animals at the top of the ladder.

“Megalodon was by all means flexible”

“Our study tends rather to draw a picture of megalodon as an ecologically versatile generalist,” Dr. McCormack says, adding: “Megalodon was by all means flexible enough to feed on marine mammals and large fish, from the top of the food pyramid as well as lower levels – depending on availability.”

The scientists’ findings have been published in the journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters.

Get your game on! Whether you’re into NFL touchdowns, NBA buzzer-beaters, world-class soccer goals, or MLB home runs, our app has it all.

Dive into live coverage, expert insights, breaking news, exclusive videos, and more – plus, stay updated on the latest in current affairs and entertainment. Download now for all-access coverage, right at your fingertips – anytime, anywhere.