Megalodon Found To Be A ‘Warm-Blooded’ Extinct Shark Species, Research Finds

A type of shark, Megalodon, was found to be warm-blooded by international researchers through its fossilized teeth.

This characteristic, however, resulted in its extinction.

A study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences indicated that Otodus Megalodon had body temperature that was significantly higher compared to other sharks.

This means that the mammal has a degree of internal heat production similar to that of modern warm-blooded or endothermic animals.

International scientists made the conclusion after they had studied the fossilized teeth of Megalodon, a Livescience report stated.

The researchers found out that Megalodon could actually maintain its body heat even when the external environment was significantly cooler.

In an email interview with Livescience, Kenshu Shimada, Professor of Paleobiology from the College of Science and Health at DePaul University in Chicago, said that the measure used in studying the fossilized teeth of the Megalodon was formerly utilized on dinosaurs.

"The geochemical technique employed was previously used to examine the warm-bloodedness of dinosaurs. The new study demonstrates that the method can be applied also to marine vertebrates like sharks using their hard, well-mineralized anatomical components such as teeth," Shimada, one of the authors of the research, explained to Livescience.

According to the study, the average body temperature of the Megalodon was approximately 80 degrees Fahrenheit (27 degrees Celsius).

Meanwhile, modern-day sharks with regional endothermy have an average body temperature between 72 F to 80 F (22 C to 26.6 C).

Read Also: Megalodon Ancestor Tooth Found Along Nechako River In Canada

Active lifestyle, extinction

Shimada further said the warm-bloodedness of an animal was actually beneficial as this will help them to have a "more active lifestyle."

However, the researcher noted that this could also contributed to the extinction of the Megalodon.

"Warm-bloodedness must have actually provided an 'extra edge' to megalodon to be able to survive in cooling waters. Yet, the fact that the species became extinct illuminates the probable vulnerability or the 'cost' of being warm-blooded because warm-bloodedness requires constant high food intake to sustain high metabolism," Shimada told Livescience.

The lead researcher of the study, Robert Eagle, said studying the driving factors behind the extinction of a predatory shark similar to megalodon can provide insight about the vulnerability of large marine predators living in modern ocean ecosystems, according to an entry posted on Scitech Daily.

Scitech Daily reported that megalodons belonged to a group of sharks called mackerel sharks, which are considered members of the group that includes the great white and thresher shark.

It further said megalodons had lived during the Pliocene Epoch, which began 5.33 million years ago and ended 2.58 million years ago.

Studies also showed that global cooling during those times caused sea level and ecological changes, which resulted in the megalodon not surviving.

Largest fossilized teeth discovered

Recently, Business Insider reported that a boat captain from Florida had discovered one of the largest fossilized shark teeth from a megalodon shark.

The report said Michael Nastasio discovered a fully-intact megalodon shark tooth that was 6.25 inches (15.87 cm) long or only about an inch smaller than the largest megalodon tooth that was put on record.

Emma Bernard, curator of the Fossil Fish section at the Natural History Museum in London, told the Business Insider that based on the size of the tooth, it would have belonged to one of the larger megalodons, which was about 15 to possibly 18 meters in length.

Related article: Simultation Reveals The Ancient Megalodon Has Been The World's Fastest Shark Ever