Chomp. Chomp. Chomp. Chomp. Chomp.
Imagine the sound of five bites. A new study says that’s the number of bites it would take a megalodon to eat a killer whale. Killer whales can weigh over 8,000 pounds!
Megalodons were some of the largest sharks of all time. They were up to 60 feet long and had teeth that were about 7 inches long. In fact, megalodon means “giant tooth.”
The sharks gobbled up large ocean animals like whales and dolphins. It could eat about 2,500 pounds of food per day.
John Sparks works at the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH). He says megalodons were not just fast eaters but also powerful ones.
“Researchers have figured out that the megalodon’s bite force was about four times that of a T. rex,” Sparks explains. “That’s the highest ever for an animal.”
Don’t worry! You won’t bump into megalodons in the water today. They became extinct, or died out, about 3.6 million years ago.