MEGALODON Carcharocles megalodon WHEN Miocene Period and Pliocene Period LENGTH Up to 50 feet making it the world’s biggest shark ever LOOK FOR Huge serrated teeth some 7 inches tall SCIENCE BITE The enormous Carcharocles probably ate prehistoric whales sea turtles and dugongs but not dinosaurs This species didn’t show up until after dinosaurs were extinct This shark’s fossil teeth have been uncovered on every continent Smaller teeth found in Central America and the southern United States are clues that the shallow prehistoric ocean between North and South America was a nursery ground for juvenile megalodons 16 to 2 6 old year million megalodon shark tooth It doesn’t look like this Platybelodon is going to escape the mighty Carcharocles An extinct relative of the elephant Platybelodon was a plant eater that stripped bark and uprooted plants with its lower pair of tusks Like day modern elephants a Platybelodon probably used its trunk as a snorkel 8
ginsu shark cretoxyrhina mantelli WHEN Cretaceous Period LENGTH Up to 24 feet LOOK FOR Strong teeth coated with thick enamel that could be nearly 3 inches long SCIENCE BITE But wait there’s more Have you ever heard this line on a TV advertisement It was first used in the 1970s to sell sharp extra knives a brand named Ginsu It slices It dices It cuts through anything After studying this shark’s teeth a fossil hunter named the shark after those famous knives The ginsu shark’s razor sharp teeth could cut right through bone This huge predator was the biggest shark of its time 10