A brand new paper might sound to take “a step backward in science” but it surely reveals how thrilling paleontology actually is, certainly one of its authors has mentioned
The monstrous megalodon, believed to be the biggest shark that ever existed, may’ve appeared nothing like they’ve proven us within the 2018 blockbuster ‘The Meg’ or B-movies like ‘Mega Shark vs. Crocosaurus,’ a brand new examine has revealed.
The truth is, the paper by the American shark researchers, lately printed in Historic Biology journal, insists that “all beforehand proposed physique types of Otodus megalodon needs to be thought to be hypothesis from the scientific standpoint.”
Based on the newest estimations, the megalodon or megatooth shark that dominated the seas between 15 and three.6 million years in the past reached some 15 meters (50 toes) in size and weighed as much as 50 tons. Whereas the mannequin of the prehistoric predator is often based mostly on the trendy Nice White shark, a member of the Lamnidae household, which additionally consists of partially warm-bodied mako, porbeagle and salmon sharks. All these assumptions stem solely from the invention of megalodon’s large 18-centimeter-long enamel and its huge jaws.
“This new examine reveals that there are at the moment no scientific means to assist or refute the accuracy of any of the beforehand printed physique types of O. megalodon,” lead writer Phillip Sternes, a PhD candidate on the College of California, Riverside, mentioned in a press-release.
The group got here to the conclusion that the two-dimensional geometric form analyses utilized by the scientists “doesn’t essentially decisively permit the physique kind reconstruction for O. megalodon,” the paper’s co-author Jake Wooden identified.
Nevertheless, he added that it was “nonetheless potential” that the extinct creature may’ve resembled the Nice White shark.
Any significant discussions on how the megalodon actually appeared would require the invention of no less than one full, or almost full, skeleton, which is but to occur, based on Wooden.
“The examine might seem like a step backward in science, however the continued thriller makes paleontology, the examine of prehistoric life, an enchanting and thrilling scientific area,” one other of the paper’s co-authors, Professor Kenshu Shimada from DePaul College, mentioned, whereas promising that his colleagues and him “will proceed on the lookout for extra clues [on the megalodon] within the fossil report.”
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