Latest news with #Megalodon
Business Insider
2 days ago
- Lifestyle
- Business Insider
My husband and I couldn't afford a home in the DC suburbs. We moved to the Chesapeake Bay and never looked back.
My husband and I welcomed our second daughter in November 2012 and started house-hunting for a bigger space shortly after. Our townhouse in the DC suburbs was great for three, but would become cramped with our growing family. However, even with two full-time incomes coming in from me and my husband, we couldn't find a house in the DC area within our budget of $430,000 that didn't need major repairs. One house we toured looked like the kitchen had been engulfed in flames and left untouched. At this point, in the winter of 2013, we started considering moving outside the DC area. I worried about moving away from my friends, losing access to all the conveniences, shops, and international cuisines, and moving to a place with likely less diversity. However, my husband's friend suggested visiting Calvert County, located on the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland, and after checking it out, we were instantly sold. What I was leaving behind didn't seem to matter as much after that. We were charmed by the Chesapeake Beach, Maryland My husband found the house we ended up buying and visited the area by himself before we took the rest of the family. One family visit is all we needed to decide this would be our new home. The 4,000-square-foot house had plenty of space for our family to grow. I finally had a place to put my mother's piano, which I'd inherited, so our kids could take lessons on the one my siblings and I learned on. The house came with a beautiful sun-filled kitchen, was one mile from the Chesapeake Bay in an area with a good school system, and, best of all, was within our budget. (The housing market here has since gone up, and prices are much higher.) We found a community Soon after selling our townhouse and buying the house in Chesapeake Beach, our new neighbors stopped by to welcome us and bring hot meals, candles, and kitchen towels. This never happened anywhere we'd lived before. We were good friends with our neighbors in the DC suburbs, but our neighbors in Chesapeake Beach feel like family. We shuttle each other's kids to and from practices, go on trips together, and I know I can count on them when I'm short on butter. We're truly grateful to be part of this community, especially since we do not have family who lives close by. I feel like I'm reliving the best part of my childhood My favorite places are beaches. I grew up in Cape May, New Jersey, one of the country's oldest seaside towns, known for its local seafood, pork roll and egg sandwiches, and Jersey tomatoes. So, anytime I'm at the beach, any beach, I return to the best parts of my childhood. Luckily, there's a tiny beach just a mile from our house. In Chesapeake Beach, we paddleboard and collect fossilized shark teeth, which this area is known for. A local man is famous for discovering a Megalodon tooth when he was fishing at a nearby beach, which is estimated to be millions of years old. For me, paddleboarding takes courage and balance, and it's taught me to be more patient with myself. My kids, though, have gotten pretty good on the water. I'm grateful that I get to raise them with a similar love of sand and sun. I also discovered a new love of cracking crabs. Maryland is known for its seafood, especially blue crabs and oysters. On summer weekends, I spend time with friends dipping the Old Bay-seasoned crab meat in melted butter and apple cider vinegar. It's always an afternoon well spent. We've now lived here as long as we lived in the DC suburbs, and while I occasionally miss some of the conveniences we used to enjoy, the trade-off has been worth it. We have no plans to move anytime soon.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Megalodon Tooth Millions of Years Old Found in Florida (Video)
Call me crazy, uneducated, or what-have-you, but I thought the ancient Megalodon shark was just a myth. A fabled creature, akin to the kraken, trumpeted by Shark Week and other fear-mongering media, to entice viewers with shock and awe into their programming. Alas, I was wrong. Recently, a diver off the Gulf Coast of Florida made the find of a lifetime, discovering a six-inch tooth from the early Miocene to early Pliocene epochs, ranging from 23 to 3.6 million years ago. It was so rare, shark experts called it: 'Like winning the lottery. One chance in a million or more.' 'We were really close to the ground,' said Kristina Scott, who found the tooth while diving off Venice in Sarasota County with her boyfriend. 'I saw just the root of it, covered in barnacle. I knew the shape. And I pulled it out of the dirt, and started freaking out. I pulled his [her boyfriend's] arm. I was trying to yell with the regulator in my mouth. But yeah, we were just stoked.'When compared to other shark teeth, this megalodon fang makes modern sharks look like sardines. But how big, exactly, were these ancient behemoths. Well, there's only fossil records to go off, but scientists have some ideas. According to a Smithsonian report on the carcharocles megalodon: 'Carcharocles megalodon was once the most fearsome predator to reign the seas. This ancient shark lived roughly 23 to 3.6 million years ago in nearly every corner of the ocean. Roughly up to 3 times the length of a modern-day great white shark, it is the largest shark to have ever lived. It had a powerful bite with a jaw full of teeth as large as an adult human's hand. They likely could tear chunks of flesh from even the largest whales of the time. It should come as no surprise that upon discovery in the fossil record, the massive shark was named Carcharocles megalodon or 'big toothed glorious shark.'' As for the rarity (and potential price tag) of such a find from the diver in Florida – as in, could she cash in on it? – the newscasters could only fathom: 'From our understanding, this is, like, museum-quality stuff…it's a big deal.'Megalodon Tooth Millions of Years Old Found in Florida (Video) first appeared on Surfer on Jun 2, 2025
Forbes
26-05-2025
- Science
- Forbes
Largest Shark To Ever Swim In Our Oceans Was Not A Picky Eater
Fossil O. megalodon tooth compared to a recent-day great white shark tooth. Otodus megalodon, the largest shark to ever swim in our planet's oceans, still inhabited the sea up to around 3.6 million years ago. Despite its fame in pop-culture, surprisingly little is known about the anatomy and behavior of this species. Sharks have only a cartilaginous skeleton that quickly decays after death, only their hard teeth survive the long and arduous fossilization process. Based on the fragmentary remains, length estimates for a full-grown O. megalodon range from 50 to 100 feet (15-30 meters). Special evolutionary adaptions including warm-bloodedness (an organism's ability to maintain a relatively constant internal temperature) and giving birth to fully-developed newborns likely led to this gigantism. The living animal required around 100,000 kilocalories per day. Scientists widely assumed that O. megalodon's main calorie intake was in the form of whales, large preys providing also a high-caloric input thanks to their fat reserves. However O. megalodon was not a picky eater, says Dr. Jeremy McCormack from the Department of Geosciences at Goethe University Frankfurt. McCormack and colleagues extracted zinc from the fossil teeth, an element that occurs in isotopes of different weights. Zinc is ingested with food, but the specific isotopes preserved in muscles, organs and skeletal tissues depend on the animal's place in the food chain. The tissue of large fish that eat smaller fish absorbs significantly less zinc-66, and predatory animal which, in turn, hunt them for food absorb even less. "Since we don't know how the ratio of the two zinc isotopes at the bottom of the food pyramid was at that time, we compared the teeth of various prehistoric and extant shark species with each other and with other animal species. This enabled us to gain an impression of predator-prey relationships," explains McCormack. The fossils they used for their study mostly came from marine deposits in Sigmaringen and Passau (Germany). Analyzing the zinc isotopes in the fossil remains of different species, they reconstructed the food chain as it appeared 18 million years ago. "Sea bream, which fed on mussels, snails and crustaceans, formed the lowest level of the food chain we studied. Smaller shark species such as requiem sharks and ancestors of today's cetaceans, dolphins and whales, were next. Larger sharks such as sand tiger sharks were further up the food pyramid, and at the top were giant sharks like Araloselachus cuspidatus and the Otodus sharks, which include megalodon," explains McCormack. The zinc signal in fossil O. megalodon teeth is more variable than expected. 'Our study tends rather to draw a picture of megalodon as an ecologically versatile generalist; … by all means flexible enough to feed on marine mammals and large fish, from the top of the food pyramid as well as lower levels — depending on availability.' "It gives us important insights into how the marine communities have changed over geologic time, but more importantly the fact that even 'supercarnivores' are not immune to extinction," adds Kenshu Shimada, a paleobiologist at DePaul University in Chicago, U.S., and a coauthor of the new study. The study,"Miocene marine vertebrate trophic ecology reveals megatooth sharks as opportunistic supercarnivores," was published in the journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters. Additional material and interviews provided by Sadie Harley and Robert Egan, Goethe University Frankfurt am Main.
Yahoo
26-05-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Giant Megalodon's Prey Finally Revealed, And It's Not What We Thought
Megalodon, the terror of the Neogene, dominated its giant shark niche for just 20 million years before it disappeared from the world's oceans. And, during that time, it hunted anything and everything that crossed its path. It didn't distinguish: if it was large enough to be a snack, megalodon (Odontus megalodon) partook. Scientists have reached that conclusion after studying the teeth of modern sharks, and comparing them to the fossilized teeth of megalodon, almost all we have left of the extinct fish today. This contradicts the theory that the main prey of megalodon was whales. Certainly megalodon could and did eat whales – but its diet as a whole was far more opportunistic. "Our study tends rather to draw a picture of megalodon as an ecologically versatile generalist," says geoscientist Jeremy McCormack of Goethe University Frankfurt in Germany "Megalodon was by all means flexible enough to feed on marine mammals and large fish, from the top of the food pyramid as well as lower levels – depending on availability." Megalodon is an extinct species of shark that lived from around 23 million to around 3.6 million years ago, during which time it occupied a prime position at the top of the food web, before being driven to extinction. We will never know for certain what it looked like; like all sharks, its skeleton was mostly cartilage, and all it left behind was a lot of teeth and a few vertebrae. We know from these remains, however, that megalodon was enormous, with size estimates ranging from around 11 meters to over 40 meters (36 to 131 feet) in length (although the latter is an outlier, and most estimates hover around 13 to 20 meters). That's huge – so huge that scientists think that megalodon may have specialized in large prey. One way to determine the diet of someone who has been dead a long time is to look at isotopes in their teeth. An isotope of an element is an atom that deviates from the norm in the number of neutrons it has in its nucleus, and the ratios of these isotopes vary according to several factors, one of which is diet. This is because when we eat, some of the metals in our food replace some of the calcium in our teeth and bones – not so you notice, obviously, but enough to leave a tracer. McCormack and his colleagues looked specifically at the ratios of two isotopes of zinc – the lighter zinc-64 and the heavier zinc-66. When fish at the bottom of the food web eat, they store less zinc-66 than zinc-64. The fish that eat those fish have even less zinc-66. So when you get to the fish at the very top of the chain, you see the very least zinc-66 compared to zinc-64. This is what the researchers observed in the teeth of megalodon and its cousin, the extinct Odontus chubutensis. The researchers don't really know what was at the bottom of the food chain 18 million years ago, the time from which the megalodon teeth they studied hailed. So, they compared the megalodon teeth with the teeth of sharks that swim the oceans today to work out what the giant predators ate. "Sea bream, which fed on mussels, snails, and crustaceans, formed the lowest level of the food chain we studied," McCormack says. "Smaller shark species such as requiem sharks and ancestors of today's cetaceans, dolphins, and whales, were next. Larger sharks such as sand tiger sharks were further up the food pyramid, and at the top were giant sharks like Araloselachus cuspidatus and the Otodus sharks, which include megalodon." Megalodon's status as a superpredator at the very top of the food web has been established previously. The new research reveals that the isotope difference between megalodon and the animals at the lowest level the researchers studied was not a sharp delineation, suggesting that the shark was not a fussy eater. There were also intriguing differences in megalodon diet depending on where the animals lived. Megalodon teeth found in Passau, Germany, dined more heavily on the lower levels of the food web, the researchers found. This is not dissimilar to the opportunistic hunting approach demonstrated by white sharks (Carcharias carcharodon), which stands to reason: previous work led by McCormack showed that the rise of the white shark was likely one of the drivers that led megalodon to extinction. With competition in its ecological niche, megalodon became more vulnerable. "It gives us important insights into how the marine communities have changed over geologic time," says paleobiologist Kenshu Shimada of DePaul University in the US, "but more importantly the fact that even 'supercarnivores' are not immune to extinction." The research has been published in Earth and Planetary Science Letters. Earth's Core Holds a Vast Reservoir of Gold, And It's Leaking Toward The Surface Scientists Peered Inside The Echidna's Mysterious 'Pseudo-Pouch' Bizarre Three-Eyed Predator Hunted The Ocean Half a Billion Years Ago
Newsweek
26-05-2025
- Science
- Newsweek
Megalodon: Largest Ever Shark's Diet Surprises Geoscientists
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. A new study has uncovered surprising insights into the feeding habits of the largest predatory fish to ever roam the Earth's oceans, challenging long-standing assumptions about the prehistoric predator. For centuries, scientists believed that Otodus megalodon hunted exclusively at the top off the food chain, but a new study led by Jeremy McCormack from the Department of Geosciences at Goethe University Frankfurt found that its diet was far more flexible than previously thought. Longer than a truck with a trailer (reaching up to almost 79 feet long) and weighting almost twice as much, Megalodon, ruled the oceans between 20–3 million years ago, frequently on the hunt for prey to satisfy its astonishing 100,000 kilocalories-per-day nutritional demand. Its massive jaws were filled with triangular teeth, each the size of a hand, and its deadly bite had the force of an industrial hydraulic press, leaving no hope for any creature crossing its path. It was thanks to its fossilized teeth that McCormack, in collaboration with other scientists from Germany, France, Austria and the US, were able to discover the apex predator's unusual dietary habits. A stock image shows a 3D illustration of the Otodus Megalodon, the largest predatory fish that has ever existed. A stock image shows a 3D illustration of the Otodus Megalodon, the largest predatory fish that has ever existed. getty images By analyzing the levels of zinc in the fossils, the study found that while Megalodon did surely feast on whales and dolphins whenever it had a chance, the shark adjusted its diet based on availability of the prey. Zinc occurs in atomic variants (isotopes) of different weights, and is ingested with food. Less of the heavier isotope zinc-66 than the lighter isotope zinc-64 is stored in muscles and organs. Predatory fish absorb significantly less zinc-66 and those at the top of the food chain absorb even less. "Since we don't know how the ratio of the two zinc isotopes at the bottom of the food pyramid was at that time, we compared the teeth of various prehistoric and extant shark species with each other and with other animal species. This enabled us to gain an impression of predator–prey relationships 18 million years ago," explained McCormack in a statement. Sea bream—a fish which fed on mussels, snails and crustaceans—formed the lowest level of the food chain, followed by smaller shark species such as requiem sharks and the ancestors of today's cetaceans, dolphins and whales. Larger sharks such as sand tiger sharks were further up the food pyramid, and at the top were giant sharks like Araloselachus cuspidatus and the Otodus shark genus, which includes Megalodon. Results of the study showed that the levels of zinc found in the Megalodon couldn't be sharply differentiated from the lower levels of the pyramid, suggesting that the largest shark that ever lived was flexible enough to feed on both marine mammals and large fish from the top of the food pyramid as well as lower levels. Jeremy McCormack at the mass spectrometer, which is used to determine the zinc isotope ratio. This ratio provides information about the diet of Otodus megalodon. Photo: Uwe Dettmar for Goethe University Jeremy McCormack at the mass spectrometer, which is used to determine the zinc isotope ratio. This ratio provides information about the diet of Otodus megalodon. Photo: Uwe Dettmar for Goethe University Uwe Dettmar, Goethe University "Our study tends rather to draw a picture of megalodon as an ecologically versatile generalist," McCormack added. The shark's diet also greatly varied depending on its location and regional availability of prey. The teeth used for the study mostly came from 18-million-year-old fossil deposits in the German cities of Sigmaringen and Passau—and sharks in these locations showed different food habits. The creatures from Passau fed more on prey from lower levels of the food pyramid, probably due to lack of bigger fish in the area. McCormack said that the new method of determining tooth zinc isotope ratios has once proven to be a valuable instrument for paleoecological reconstructions. Kenshu Shimada, paleobiologist at DePaul University in Chicago, USA, and coauthor of the study added: "It gives us important insights into how the marine communities have changed over geologic time, but more importantly the fact that even 'supercarnivores' are not immune to extinction." Do you have a tip on a science story that Newsweek should be covering? Do you have a question about Megalodon? Let us know via science@
