Simon Owens

A megalodon had teeth that were about seven inches long.

A woman in South Carolina recently made a stunning discovery on a riverbank. She found a tooth that was almost as big as her hand! It once belonged to a huge prehistoric shark called megalodon.

Megalodons were some of the largest sharks of all time. They were up to 60 feet long. That’s longer than a school bus—and three times as long as today’s great white shark. Not surprisingly, these supersized sharks had big teeth. In fact, megalodon means “giant tooth.”

A megalodon used its knifelike teeth to gobble up large ocean animals like whales and dolphins. “It probably ate anything that it could fit in its mouth,” says scientist Sarah Boessenecker.

Don’t worry! You won’t spot a megalodon in any of today’s waterways. These creatures became extinct about 3.6 million years ago.