Why Megalodon (Definitely) Went Extinct

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Published 2018-12-19
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For more than 10 million years, Megalodon was at the top of its game as the oceans’ apex predator...until 2.6 million years ago, when it went extinct. So, what happened to the largest shark in history?

"Correction: 9:36 This is an image of a humpback whale when it should be a blue whale."

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Thanks as always to Nobumichi Tamura for allowing us to use his wonderful paleoart: spinops.blogspot.com/

And thanks to Joschua Knüppe and Studio 252mya for the illustration of Piscobalaena. You can find more of Joschua's work here: www.deviantart.com/hyrotrioskjan

Produced for PBS Digital Studios.

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References:
www.researchgate.net/profile/John_Barron3/publicat…
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All Comments (21)
  • @eons
    As some of you have pointed out, the size comparison we show at 9:36 features a humpback whale instead of a blue whale. That's my fault! The illustration (from a stock photo site) was improperly labeled and we missed the mistake in our review. We spent so much time making sure we had all of the extinct species depicted accurately that we missed the (enormously) obvious error right in front of us. Sorry for the mistake! -Seth
  • @sampratt8584
    Hmm sounds like something a megalodon would say
  • @garyK.45ACP
    I discovered that when I am in the ocean, my reactions to a piece of seaweed touching my leg and a Megalodon attacking me are exactly the same.
  • @bravepigster
    The scariest thing to consider is that it’s not like there was only a few, since it was an entire species of shark, there was likely a number of them ranging from hundreds to near thousands.
  • The amount of people who legit think the Meg is still around despite all evidence against it concerns me.
  • @busterbunz9710
    we know the megaladon is gone but when i go into the water i still feel its presence
  • @noodlesushi111
    Megalodon: goes extinct Whales: alright boys, let's get to work
  • @azurenodes537
    It’s definitely extinct. It doesn’t take a genius to realize that Mariana trench is the worst place for it to stay Due to the strong pressure, pure darkness, and low temperatures It will be hard for the meg to find food sources let alone survive down there.
  • I swear if I see one more comment denying that they went extinct and their first argument is "Well, we have only explored 5% of our oceans so we don't know what's in the other 95%" imma flip the table.
  • @DrThunder88
    "Giant sharks may patrol our oceans again." Yeah, we megalodon't want that.
  • @Bananapocalypse
    "I know you're smarter than that" Me: "oh god someone else I'm about to disappoint"
  • @mandymonster
    I always assumed that megaladons evolved into great whites because we know certain animals, like crocodiles, used to be ginormous. I definitely learned a lot of new stuff! I also feel like even if they still existed, we wouldn't have to worry too much because sharks don't like the taste of humans, and we would be too small to satisfy their appetite
  • @venuka8670
    So basically I had a big pool in my school, and it was about 10 feet deep. It started at 3 feet deep, then 5 feet and finally 10 feet. Swimming to the 10 feet end of the pool always scared me, I couldn’t see the bottom of the pool so it felt like there was a huge shark coming my way… dam bro that was scary
  • @hottea9546
    It’s crazy when you think that at one point in time the last megladon was swimming being the only one left of its kind.
  • @quimicoz
    "Why Megalodon (Definitely) Went Extinct" Because it was over-fished by Hollywood studios in order to figure in disaster movies.
  • @charlotte1704
    I came across this video by accident, but absolutely love everything about sharks - Having great respect for them. Watching this video makes me want to watch The Meg again 🙈
  • @PsychicCatTCG
    “Whales today face few predators” Humans: intense sweating
  • @scootingscout
    All I’m saying is, I think it would be hilarious if it was a a tiny shark with one giant tooth
  • @JAM-je7ok
    This was so cool and interesting to learn about, thank you for this video!!