Are megalodons really extinct?

There have been on going debates about the known to be extinct species of
shark, megalodon. “is megalodon really extinct or has it been hiding from human
eye’s for all these years?”

What is megalodon?

Megalodon, which means “big tooth” considering the fact that it had teeth almost
reaching the height of 7 inches and about 276 teeths in 5 rows. Megalodon was
the greatest and largest predator that lived during the early miocene to the end
of the pliocene , that’s when it was said to have gone extinct which was almost
3.6 million years ago. Megalodon was formerly classified to the family lamnidae,
making it closely related to the great white shark. However, later studies proved
that megalodon is not part of the lamnidae family rather part of the otodontidae
family, Otodontidae is an extinct family of sharks, belonging to the order
Lamniformes. Fossils of this giant predator suggest that it reached the maximum
length of 18 metres (59 ft) with the average size of 10.5 metres (34 ft). Their jaws
could exert a bite force of upto 110,000 to 180,000 newtons. Unlike the great
white shark that attacks the preys softside the megalodon, used it’s strongest
teeth to break through the chest cavity and puncture the heart and the lungs of
the prey, talk about viciousness.

Theories about megalodon’s extinction.

There is no scientifically proven or approved theory about how megalodon went
extinct. It is thought that the oceanic cooling associated with the onset of ice
age could have been a reason for the extinction of the megalodon, but what’s
been forgotten here is that megalodons had the capability to thermoregulate,
if they were able to adapt to the colder waters then they could have survived
the ice age. A theory suggesting the appearance of a supernova in the
prehistoric sky almost 2.6 million years ago which lingered around for weeks if
not months and was followed by a tsunami of cosmic energy touching off
climate change and triggering mass extinction of large ocean animals including
the megalodon. But do you really think a shark that big, almost 60 ft could be
killed so easily, maybe losing a few but the whole species going extinct?

Theories suggesting that megalodon is not really extinct

A couple of unexpected discoveries have  fuelled the belief that megalodons
still exist;. In 1918,  an Australian naturalist named David Stead recorded events
when local fisherman refused to go back out to sea after an unbelievably
massive shark had demolished their gear and taken their catch. These were
experienced men of the sea, familiar with whales and large sharks, but
whatever they had seen had frightened them so much that they refused to work.
According to Stead, they described it as between 35 and 90 meters long and
pure white in color. Matching the height of a megalodon who had been thought
to have been extinct. Now this could have been just a speculation or the men
were just exaggerating or were confused of what they had seen. But this
doesn’t stop us from thinking that megalodon could still possibly be out there.

If megalodon is alive where is it?

Answer the question, “why do some scientists believe that megalodon could still
be alive and out there?” the answer is, because such a situation has happened
before. “The giant squid” which was thought to be a mythical creature or perhaps
even extinct was caught on camera in 2006 by japanese researchers. So if a
giant squid 59 ft tall and weighing nearly a ton had been hiding from human
eyes for all this while who is to say that the megalodon can’t do so to. But if a
megalodon shark is still alive, then where could it possibly be hiding? The
answer to that question is quite debatable, but what conclusion it has come to,
most say “the mariana trench”

What is the mariana trench?

The Mariana Trench is located in the western Pacific Ocean about 200 kilometres
(124 mi) east of the Mariana Islands, and has the deepest natural trench in the
world. It is a crescent-shaped trough in the Earth's crust averaging about 2,550
km (1,580 mi) long and 69 km (43 mi) wide. The maximum known depth is 10,994
metres (36,070 ft) at the southern end of a small slot-shaped valley in its floor
known as the Challenger Deep.

What is the challenger deep?

The challenger deep is located in the pacific ocean at the southern tip of the
mariana trench near the mariana island groups. Taking in consideration the
depth of the mariana trench not many people have reached the challenger
deep. Out of 7.2 billion people in the whole world only three have reached the
challenger deep. The first two, “Jacques piccard” and “don walsh” reached the
challenger peak in the “Bathyscaphe trieste” the first manned vessel to reach
the challenger deep. Piccard and walsh spotted a fish in the deep waters

proving that life can exist in the challenger deep, also leading us to think that a
megalodon might have survived in the mariana trench and due to it’s big size
and the pitch darkness in the trench, explorers might have mistaken it for a
huge stone. The third person to reach the challengers deep was “james
cameron” filmmaker and explorer, cameron made a solo dive of 10,908 metres
below the surface of the pacific ocean in the deepsea challenger vessel.

How can a megalodon live in the mariana trench?

To live in the mariana trench the megalodon would have had to evolve from
switching it’s meals from whales, dolphins, sea lions and sea cows to whatever
it could find down there satisfying its daily hunger of 2,500 pounds of food per
day. Or maybe it found food big as whales and dolphins down there. This could
be true since scientists don’t know half of the creatures that exist deep down the
mariana trench. Due to the extreme pressure and adverse conditions down
there, starting researches seems quite unlikely and not many people have
survived the mariana trench.

Mariana trench and it’s security

Mariana trench is now a us protected zone, research request must go through
the US fish and the wildlife service and the federated states of micronesia.

How many ever reports state megalodon to be extinct there are many people
out there who think otherwise. People out there to confirm megalodon sightings.
But the real question is “whom to believe?”