What If Megalodon Sharks Didn't Go Extinct?

the megalodon was a gigantic oceanic flesh-eater from the early Miocene time to the part of the arrangement who's a super predator that went after everything from whales to Turtles using his powerful jaws to bite through just about anything in the sea but what if these enormous beasts didn't go extinct 2.6 million years ago.

now get ready it's time to ask the question what if megalodons didn't go extinct first of all let's go over some quick facts about Megalodon so we're all in the same page the name Megalodon comes from the Greek meaning a big tooth and with teeth over six inches in length the name does not lie the Megalodon looks something like a beefed-up great white shark which is part of why some scientists believe them to be closely related reaching roughly 60 feet or 18 meters in length this beast would be among the largest in the ocean even longer than a city bus due to its powerful jaws it's able to bite with over 180 newtons of force which is why it's believed that the Megalodon attacked its prey from the side biting through its body into the vital organs rather than attacking from beneath like a great white shark this creature was built to hunt and was an extremely successful predator preying mostly on large creatures like whales seals and giant turtles but if these creatures were.

so incredibly fit for their surroundings how did they end up going extinct let's look into it since this could help us understand them and understand the necessary changes to the world in order for them to survive climate change certainly played a factor in its extinction, not the man-made climate change we've seen in recent years but the natural much more gradual change that has been seen throughout the history of the earth global cooling made it more difficult for them to survive in many climates however as the temperature changed many migrated to more suitable areas thus climate change had little direct effect on the extinction however this climate change had another effect that did lead to the extinction of the Megalodon by the end of the Maya scene many of the species the Megalodon preyed on had gone extinct and those who survived were more difficult to catch the lack of food and competition without the super predators led to the extinction of the Megalodon so if we're imagining a world where megalodons didn't go extinct we would need the food sources particularly the mysticetes or baleen whales to not go extinct either this means that not only what our world enormous sharks swimming around.

but whales would be more diverse and abundant as well this, in turn, would mean that smaller fish and krill would have to be more abundant to feed the whales which in turn would feed the Megalodon but that's not all the increase in mysticetes would mean that the other species of super predators could also survive this means that we wouldn't only have to worry about the Megalodon but other large creatures as well all this is to say that the addition of the Megalodon would make waves in the ocean's ecosystems pun very much intended but there's another rather pressing question to answer how would this affect us well if we're looking at how early humans would interact with megalodons we could look at the video game Ark if you play Ark you'll know that these pesky prehistoric sharks love to strand low-level players on Islands it's nothing more frustrating than swimming to an island only to find yourself surrounded by megalodons and this is something that could well have been an issue in the early days of humanity since megalodons tended to reside off the coast even a trip on a raft or small boat could lead to an attack however there were already large dangerous creatures in the ocean at that time and the addition of another likely wouldn't have huge effects on humanity's travel across the ocean nowadays the existence of megalodons wouldn't have a huge effect on humanity as a whole it would certainly be interesting albeit terrifying to see a living one.

but we have progressed to the point where we don't really depend on seafaring on small vessels perhaps there would be the odd story of a Megalodon attack off the coast which would, of course, make the headlines but the actual odds of this happening would be rather slim and now we return to our question what if megalodons didn't go extinct well if the Megalodon was to survive sea life would likely need to be more diverse and abundant in order to feed all members of the ecosystem in terms of its impacts on humanity it might have been quite terrifying in man's early days.

but modern humans likely wouldn't have much trouble with it that said I don't know about you but I might think twice about going into the water knowing there could be a bus with teeth waiting for me.