Child Megalodons Have been 6-Foot-Lengthy Womb Cannibals, Research Suggests

Scans of a subset of roughly hundreds of vertebrae – some the size of grapefruit – showed the shark had died by the age of 46. The researchers estimated the Meg’s life expectancy to be 88 to 100 years, suggesting that their sample was approximately “middle age,” said Dr. Shimada. They also recalculated the size of the shark in the early years and found that it was possibly more than six and a half feet long when it was born.

“This is a really big baby,” said Mr. Cooper, who was not involved in the study.

To reach such a staggering size, megas still budding in the womb may have nibbled each other, said Dr. Shimada. Most sharks hatch from eggs in their mother’s body and are then born live cubs. But the pups of some species do not like to take in roommates: once they hatch, they begin to casually devour their unhatched siblings, which helps them strengthen before giving birth.

“It’s this big, high-calorie, nutritious meal that can help these embryos grow bigger and faster,” said Allison Bronson, who studies fish development at Humboldt State University in Arcata, Calif., But not part of the study was involved.

With that much weight in tow, mini-Megs might have emerged ready to face off against potential predators, or at least dwarf a good number of them. An insatiable appetite, coupled with warmblood, might have helped them catch plenty of prey so that the juvenile horrors could accumulate even more.

Mr Cooper said the study provided vital data on a poorly understood animal. However, he found that some of the calculations used were based on data collected in the 1990s, when researchers relied more heavily on great white sharks to estimate aspects of megalodon anatomy. Too close a comparison between the two animals could “lead to underestimations of certain body dimensions”.

It’s also hard to know how representative this single megalodon was of its species, said Dr. Bronson. “There are many variations in fish,” she said. “Even fish of the same age of the same species can grow at very different speeds and reach very different sizes.”

Researchers have no way of knowing how difficult it might have been for megalo mothers to carry and give birth to a puppy over six feet tall. But “proportionally, while this baby is really big, so is the adult,” said Mr. Cooper. At their maximum size, some megalodons could have spanned almost the length of a bowling alley – plenty of space to even accommodate an embryo the size of a basketball player.

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