Megalodon may have been ‘even longer’ than we thought
If you picture a megalodon, chances are you envision what amounts to a gigantic great white shark. The image is understandable, given almost every depiction of the ancient apex predators across research and pop culture. But last year, an international team put forth a new anatomical design based on their analysis of incomplete fossilized vertebrae. According to the researchers, the famous megalodon was likely “more slender and possibly even longer” than the prevailing theory. Rather than a great white, the team offered sleeker mako sharks for a frame of reference. Researchers first proposed that megalodons may have looked like giant mako sharks. Credit: Deposit Photos The hypothesis kicked off a heated debate among paleobiologists, many of whom contended the evidence still simply didn’t support giant prehistoric makos. Unfortunately, a follow-up study likely won’t satisfy anyone who disagrees with the mako idea, either. According to many of the original study’s authors, megalodons...