Megalodon is not a fast swimmer, but a very hungry one

About the episode

It has been found all over the world, the basking shark megalodon, which died out 3.6 million years ago. We don’t know much about huge shark species because researchers have few usable fossils to work with. A few teeth, a few vertebrae. It’s not a lot.

Still, there are certainly ideas. About its size – it is believed that it could reach 20 meters in length, habitat and even swimming speed. Researchers now believe they have new information on the latter, based on small scales no larger than the grains of sand that have been found.

Megalodon was long thought to be a fast swimmer, but when researchers examined the scales, they found they weren’t the right shape for a fast swimmer. The shark was probably – at around 2 kilometers per hour – more of a rather slow cruiser, occasionally running to grab a snack.

Well, another thought is that the shark was – at least partly – warm-blooded. Recent studies on tooth enamel show. It could even be one of the reasons why the animal disappeared. But how did the shark expend this high level of metabolic heat, without swimming fast? Could it be used for something else?

It must have been, according to the researchers. The megalodon was probably so gigantic and partly warm-blooded because it had to process enormous amounts of food, but not because it had to reach enormous speeds.

Learn more here: Tiny scales reveal the megalodon wasn’t as fast as believed, but it had a mega-appetite explaining its gigantism.