Imagine a shark so enormous that even today’s largest great whites would look small by comparison. That’s the megalodon, a prehistoric apex predator whose incredible size continues to fascinate scientists millions of years after its extinction.
But just how big was it? Because megalodon sharks had skeletons made primarily of cartilage, much of what scientists know comes from fossilized teeth and vertebrae. And reconstructing an entire animal from those remains isn’t exactly straightforward.
In this A-Z Animals video, we explore the evidence behind megalodon’s estimated size, how researchers use modern sharks to help reconstruct this ancient predator, and why scientists still disagree about what one of the largest predatory sharks in Earth’s history actually looked like.
