Were organized, pack-hunting Orcas responsible for driving the giant prehistoric shark Megalodon to extinction?BUCKINGHAM, PA, US, February 27, 2022 /EINPresswire.com/ — Otodus megalodon was a Miocene mackerel shark that hunted whales. It was one of the largest and most powerful marine predators of all time – a super-predator capable of swallowing a hippo. It’s also (thankfully) extinct. Paleontologists and shark enthusiasts wonder why. We still have whales; what happened to the colossus that once preyed on them? Killer whales are also still here, and they eat whales, too. Could Orcas have been responsible for killing off Megalodon? Did they take out their larger competitor?
Addressing these questions is award-winning author and paleo-researcher, Max Hawthorne. Known for his bestselling Kronos Rising series of sci-fi thrillers, the โPrince of Paleo-fictionโ is also an amateur paleontologist, with credits including solving the mystery of plesiosaur locomotion. โThe extinction of Megalodon is a hot topic,โ Hawthorne said. โThere have been many theories. One suggested that energy from a supernova killed off the shark. I guess some liked the idea that it took a cosmic explosion to kill off an otherwise indestructible โmonsterโ. Sadly, that theory went extinct just like Megalodon. We know now that said explosion took place around 2.6mya, whereas the shark died off a million years earlier.โ
In terms of inter-species predation, Hawthorne stated, โThe notion that white sharks preyed on Megalodon pups is interesting. Iโm sure it happened occasionally, but was it enough of a factor to cause its extinction? Carcharodon carcharias didnโt just magically appear one day. The two species coexisted for 3 million years. How often do you hear about a juvenile great white being eaten by another kind of shark? I should think if white sharks did have an impact on Megalodon populations, it wasnโt a very big one.โ
In terms of Orcas, Hawthorne said, โWe know that killer whales are pack hunters, and that some actively target sharks as prey, including the great white. We also know the white shark is easily dispatched by the smarter, more powerful Orca. The question is, could Orcas kill a Megalodon?โ Hawthorne went on to discuss the two species. โThe earliest Orcas werenโt as large as those of today. Orcinus citoniensis, which, coincidentally, appeared right around the time Megalodon died off, was a nasty customer, but it was only 13 feet long. There were other orcinine cetaceans then too, including Hemisyntrachelus, which grew to 16 feet in length. Could these whales have killed young and sub-adult Megalodons? Quite possibly. And letโs not forget that, over the course of its reign, Megalodon shared the seas other macropredatory whales such as Brygmophyseter and Zygophyseter. Both of these were aggressive hunters that almost certainly lived in pods. They were larger than the first Orcas, closer to the size of the extant Orcinus orca, at around 23 feet. Last but not least, was Livyatan melvillei. This beast must have been a nightmare for Megalodon. It was bigger, faster, smarter, had sonar and a battering ram head, and had the largest functional fangs of any animal. Even a single Livyatan could take down a Megalodon. A pod? Ouch.โ
When asked about a hypothetical Orca versus Megalodon match-up, Hawthorne smiled. โCould an organized pack of Orcas – or the like – dispatch a full-grown Megalodon? The short answer is yes, and with little difficulty.โ When asked why, he explicated. โFirst, the shark was not as big as people think. It maxed out at around 50 feet in length (Shimada, 2019) and second, the adult were relatively slow swimmers. Why? Because the bigger a shark gets, the slower it gets. Itโs all about the skeleton. Muscles attached to soft cartilage canโt contract as powerfully as those affixed to bone. Hence, a 50โ whale shark can only swim as fast as we can jog, while blue whales 4X its mass top out at ~30mph.โ
Hawthorne used comparative science to estimate an adult Megalodonโs speed. โSince we donโt have a live specimen, our best bet is to reference existing sharks. The basking shark is a perfect example. Like the Megalodon and great white, itโs a mackerel shark, and the two probably shared a similar body plan. In 2018, Jonathan Houghton, from Queenโs University in Belfast, studied atypical breaching behavior in basking sharks. A monitoring device was attached to a 26-foot specimen (estimated weight ~5 tons). When breaching, the shark maxed out at 11mph and (per the researchers) generated the same energy and speed as a great white. This suggests a 26-foot Megalodon also topped out at around 11mph. A 50-footer would be slower.โ
Hawthorne continued. โPoint is, a big Megalodon could not catch a healthy Orca, or most whales. And it would have a hard time getting away from them. Additionally, Orcas are experts at exploiting opponentsโ weaknesses. In this case, there are several. Speed is one, next; the shark only has teeth at one end. Orcas would avoid the head as they harried it, tearing at its fins, tail, and genital region. Picture a squadron of WW2 Messerschmitt fighter planes going after a B-24 Liberator bomber with a nose gun only.โ Hawthorne added, โBut the Megalodonโs Achilles heel is, like the related great white, mako, and salmon shark, it was an obligate ram ventilator. That means it had to keep swimming to breathe. If it stopped, it died. Orcas clamp down on the flukes of blue whales several times the size of a Megalodon and stop them dead in the water. They would do the same thing to the shark โ seize its tail and, as it suffocated, batter it to death.โ
โDid this happen to Megalodon with other species?โ Hawthorne offered. โProbably. Itโs also possible that proto-Orcas did the same thing to the baby and sub-adult sharks. Did that cause Megalodonโs disappearance? I think loss of prey, i.e., the extinction of the smallish baleen whales it preyed upon, was the main reason. But Iโm sure losing individuals here and there to rival predators didnโt help any.โ
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Monsters & Marine Mysteries by Max Hawthorne
Rod Washington:ย ย Rod is a blogger, writer, filmmaker, photographer, daydreamer who likes to cook. Rod produces and directs the web series, CUPIC: Diary of an Investigator. He also produces news and documentary video projects. Check out his podcast StoriesThisMoment atย https://m3e.d71.myftpupload.com/stm-tncn-podcasts/