Could the MEGALODON still be lurking in the seas? (No)

Could The MEGALODON still be lurking in the seas?

An 1,8 m tall human compared to megalodon's jaws

Otodus megalodon is a species of the genus otodus that lived 23 to 3 million years ago.  It reached up to 18 meters in length and 60 tons in weight. Its jaws were twice as tall as an 1,8 m. person. You probably have seen one of these top ten videos which say that "there is proof of it beeing alive" or "megalodon never went extinct". Today, as a paleontology nerd, I'm going to explain to you why megalodon is extinct, and proof that all these videos are either misinformation, misunderstandood things or just made for views.

1.Why did the Megalodon go extinct?

As I said in the start, megalodon is not a genus itself, rather a species of the long ranging genus Otodus, which appeared in the paleocene era and went extinct along with megalodon in the Pliocene. Once, megalodon was thought to be a member of a different genus, specifically the genus Carcharodon, in which the great white shark (C.carcharias). Still though, they are still related to each other, since they are both members of the lamnidae. So, why did the Megalodon go extinct? Well, there are three main reasons for a creature to go extinct:

1) Lack food and oxygen (I'd say water too but the Megalodon is a fish so it doesn't need it)

2) Climate change

3) Being outcompeted

Sadly, megalodon went extinct from both 1) and 2).  Why? Well, megalodon's diet mainly consisted of cetaceans (whales and dolphins). You might ask, " But Aggelos, these live everywhere!" And that is factual. Another thing that is factual is that lamnids can't live everywhere. So, during the Pliocene, when the Ice Age started, the whales quickly adapted on the changing environment, while megalodons migrated to specific warm areas. They had no food, plus these areas wouldn't take much time to freeze too. So, all megalodons, along with the whole genus, were doomed. However, is there any evidence that somehow some megalodons survived?

"Proof" of its survival

This Image was shown in a video by discovery channel. It is a real whale carcass that got beached in Hawaii back in 2009. Even though I blurred it, you can still understand why is it called proof of megalodon: its lower body is missing.

Next image was 

A 2 meter tall "dorsal fin"  next to a whale. Well, why I say "dorsal fin" instead of dorsal fin is simple: I am not sure if it is one. It could be the whale's tale turned in an 90° ankle, but it looks a bit too short. There is also something that looks like blood in the water, so I can't be sure. The other picture is said to be recovered by a nazi archive.

As you can see, it was taken in 1942, when it had already been named. However, I don't think there's a reason for the Nazis to try make a fake image of a extinct creature. Where they trying to clickbait the Americans or The Soviets?(Political joke, don't take it seriously). And I'm sure there was no photoshop around that time. Maybe it was photoshopped when published on the internet.

The next one is said to be taken by a coast guard.

We can't tell much about what that blurry figure is. It's actually a video, this is a screenshot of it. It looks like this black thing is following the helicopter. But why?

 

What we know

All this evidence is cool, but the fossil record says otherwise.  So let's check each recording one by one. 

1. The dead whale

Whales are known to have been a common prey of megalodon. So, the whale is legit proof, right? Not quietly...  If there was at least one living individual right now, there would be lots whale carcasses beached every week. So no, it is not much proof.

2. The shark next to the whale

Well, This one is possibly just a fin of a juvenile whale, or it's the old whale's tail. So why is there blood? Is this actually the whale beeing attacked by a megalodon? I don't think it looks like it.

3. The Nazi Footage

This one is just unexplainable. I don't think there is a reason for discovery channel to edit an image to make false history. And O don't think there's a way for megalodon to have survived the ice age.

4. The aerial video

Well, this is too blurry to be labelled as anything. It could be an orka, it could be a group of small fish, it could be a whale, you never know!

So, what to believe?

Well in my opinion, there is no solid proof of megalodon's survival. So, no, the megalodon is extinct

Thank you so much for reading this post! Next post is going to be a rabbit hole into the weird world of paleontology.

See you!