MEGALODON at the Raleigh Natural Science Museum, North Carolina: Jaws of Giant Shark Close-Up

Model of the jaws of Megalodon at the Raleigh Museum of Natural Science

Imagine a giant shark twice as big as the modern-day great white shark, with razor-sharp teeth the size of a human hand, and jaws so huge they could swallow an object the size of a horse!  Long ago, just such a creature swam the oceans of the world.  It was megalodon, the biggest predatory shark that ever lived.  Growing nearly fifty feet long, this fearsome hunter cruised the ocean depths for millions of years, feeding on nearly anything that swam in the sea.

A year and a half ago, when I was in North Carolina, I went with my family to the Raleigh Natural Science Museum where a model of megalodon’s huge jaws are on display in the main lobby of the museum.  Megalodon roamed the oceans of the world for at least 17 or 18 million years before becoming extinct about 2 million years ago at the beginning of the last Ice Age.  Fossilized giant megalodon teeth have been unearthed in North Carolina and South Carolina, as well as in fossil deposits in California, Florida, Maryland, Belgium, Morocco, Mexico, South America and in other places once covered by ancient seas.

Shark teeth are among the most commonly found fossils.  All sharks lose teeth frequently–a single shark may lose thousands of teeth in its lifetime.  A tooth may last only a week.  The teeth are loosely fastened in the jaw and often break or simply fall out.  This is never a problem for the shark, because a new tooth is always ready to take its place.  A shark’s replacement teeth are folded back in its jaw and pop up into place when needed as if they were on a conveyer belt.  No matter how many teeth a shark loses, it is always prepared for its next meal!
While fossil shark teeth are common, no complete fossil skeleton of megalodon has ever been found.  Sharks have skeletons made of cartilage.  Cartilage is tough, but not as hard or durable as bone or teeth and does not fossilize nearly as well.

Giant Shark (Clarion Books, 2000)

I first learned about megalodon when I was doing research for my children's book Giant Shark: Megalodon, Prehistoric Super Predator. The book has beautiful illustrations by Laurie Caple. When I go to schools and libraries to talk about my books, I bring my fossil megalodon tooth for "show and tell."  (I bought the tooth, which was found in South Carolina, at a fossil shop.) The enormous tooth, which is still sharp on its sawtooth edge, always makes a big impression on my audience.

Fossil megalodon tooth, 14 million years old

Megalodon was once the supreme hunter of the sea.  Luckily, ocean dwellers no longer have to fear this giant predator.  But at places like the Raleigh Natural Science Museum, we can marvel at the giant jaws and enormous teeth of this ancestor of the great white shark.