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| MEGALODON |
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| The Huge Animal Under the Sea. |
The megalodon was one of the biggest living
animals that ever lived. It could have even been 70-100 ft. long.
In 1843, the megalodon was named by Louis Agassiz,
who was one of the "founding fathers" of modern science. Scientist
could not form a skeleton of a megalodon, because most of the body is made of cartilage not bone. The main thing that is always
fossilized is the teeth.
Fossils have been found in Europe, India, Australia, North America, and South
America.
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"Giant Teeth"
Megalodon's teeth were huge. They were 6.5 inches long!
That is the size of a person's hand! Megalodon's have 3-5 parallel rows of teeth! They could rip through the thickest
meat like it's butter.
To figure out the length of
a shark you can measure the length of the tooth. Every inch equals 10 feet. Every half inch equals 5ft. For
example,if a tooth is 6.5 inches, the length of the shark equals 65 ft.
FINS
The megalodon has 6 fins. They are: First Dorsal fin, Second
Dorsal fin, Caudal fin, Pelvic fin and the Pectoral fin. Doubled pectoral fins help raise the megalodon when it swims.
Doubled pelvic fins balance the megalodon. The caudal or tail fins move the megalodon ahead. The other fins
on the megalodon also balances the megalodon.
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Q & A
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It eats fish, crill and whales.
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How long ago did the megalodon live?
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It lived 25 to 1.6 million years ago.
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It was about 40-60 ft. long.
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What does megalodon mean?
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How big are fossilized teeth?
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A fossilized tooth is up to 6.5 inches long.
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How wide and high could it's mouth open?
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It opens to be 6 ft.wide and 7 ft. high.
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To learn more about the megalodon, click here.
More megalodon information, click here.
Click here for more information
Resources:
See links above.
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