Repost – Unique Fossils Record the Dining Habits of Ancient Sharks
14 years, 7 months ago

Repost – Unique Fossils Record the Dining Habits of Ancient Sharks

Wired  

Shark attacks are events of speed and violence. Indeed, they are abundant enough that paleontologists Christy Visaggi and Stephen Godfrey recently cataloged of 26,000 of them to determine what kinds of sharks lived off the shores of ancient Maryland and in what numbers. Although not explicitly considered in their study, Visaggi and Godfrey noted that fish, sea turtles, crocodiles, birds, seals, sea cows, and numerous whale species all lived in the same place, and every now and then a specimen of one of these animals is found showing evidence of shark attack. A crocodile seemed to be a likely candidate, but the thing that made the paleontologists undertake this analysis in the first place was that the fossil feces showed characteristic tooth marks; one of the coprolites had been bitten into and the other had been severed. The best fits for the tooth marks were the genera Physogaleus and Galeocerdo, sharks that, like their living relative the tiger shark possessesed asymmetrical teeth in the shape of a bent A.

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History of this topic

Fossils of saber-toothed predator that gave rise to all mammals discovered
3 months, 2 weeks ago

Fossils of saber-toothed predator that gave rise to all mammals discovered

Daily Mail  

Scientists have discovered 280 million-year-old fossil remains of a predator that gave rise to all mammals. The newly discovered fossils — which include fragments of skull, vertebrae, and ribs to a very well-preserved femur — belonged to a vaguely dog-like saber-toothed predator that the researchers believe may be the oldest therapsid ever discovered. Until now, the oldest known gorgonopsians lived …

Unlucky ancient sea cow attacked by crocodile and then shark reveal secrets of prehistoric food chain
7 months ago

Unlucky ancient sea cow attacked by crocodile and then shark reveal secrets of prehistoric food chain

The Independent  

Sign up for our free Health Check email to receive exclusive analysis on the week in health Get our free Health Check email Get our free Health Check email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy The bones of an unlucky ancient sea cow has revealed more …

The monster shark of prehistoric Earth
1 year, 8 months ago

The monster shark of prehistoric Earth

BBC  

Megalodon: the superpredator that ate its siblings in the womb Getty Images Megalodon is thought to have died out when shallower seas meant it could no longer hunt enough prey Extinct megalodon sharks were the top marine predators of their day and arguably more terrifying than anything Hollywood has dreamed up. "We really don't have a great handle on what …

How a Chinese fossil discovery rewrites the history of life on Earth
2 years, 6 months ago

How a Chinese fossil discovery rewrites the history of life on Earth

Salon  

Paleontologists are having a field day over a recently discovered trove of fish fossils that could reset our understanding of human evolution. The fossils date between 436 and 439 million years ago, during an epoch known as the Silurian Period, in which Earth experienced some dramatic events that had big impacts on the evolution of life. Discovered near Lianghe village …

Ancient shark-like fish appeared much earlier than previously thought – study
2 years, 6 months ago

Ancient shark-like fish appeared much earlier than previously thought – study

The Independent  

The best of Voices delivered to your inbox every week - from controversial columns to expert analysis Sign up for our free weekly Voices newsletter for expert opinion and columns Sign up to our free weekly Voices newsletter SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. A handful of fossil teeth from …

Megalodons were oceans’ greatest ever apex predators, scientists say
2 years, 9 months ago

Megalodons were oceans’ greatest ever apex predators, scientists say

The Independent  

Sign up for our free Health Check email to receive exclusive analysis on the week in health Get our free Health Check email Get our free Health Check email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Megatooth sharks, a group that includes the biggest sharks that ever …

How great whites may have contributed to the extinction of the biggest shark, megalodon
2 years, 10 months ago

How great whites may have contributed to the extinction of the biggest shark, megalodon

ABC  

With a mouth you could easily step through and serrated teeth as big as your hand, megalodon was the biggest shark the world's seen. Key points: The world's biggest shark, megalodon, went extinct 3.6 million years ago New research shows megalodon and great whites ate the same food around the time megalodon died out Megalodon's size plus climate change likely …

‘Godzilla’ shark discovered in New Mexico gets formal name
3 years, 11 months ago

‘Godzilla’ shark discovered in New Mexico gets formal name

The Independent  

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. He named the 6.7-foot monster Dracopristis hoffmanorum, or Hoffman’s …

Fossil of Bizarre Ancient Shark with a 5-Feet-Long Fin Has Left Scientists Amazed
4 years ago

Fossil of Bizarre Ancient Shark with a 5-Feet-Long Fin Has Left Scientists Amazed

News 18  

About 93 million years ago, a bizarre plankton-eating shark-shaped unlike any other known marine creature glided through the sea in what is now northeastern Mexico using curiously elongated wing-like fins that rendered its body wider than it was long. Aquilolamna’s name means “eagle shark,” a nod to its slender pectoral fins, which “mainly acted as an effective stabilizer,” according to …

Man finds tooth of biggest shark to ever live
4 years ago

Man finds tooth of biggest shark to ever live

The Independent  

Sign up for our free Health Check email to receive exclusive analysis on the week in health Get our free Health Check email Get our free Health Check email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy A fossil hunter has found an enormous shark tooth, that was …

Megalodon shark fossils suggest that newborns were larger than adult humans: Study
4 years, 2 months ago

Megalodon shark fossils suggest that newborns were larger than adult humans: Study

Firstpost  

A new study has now found that newborn Megalodon sharks were supersized fish that were larger than most adult humans. As per a study conducted by paleobiologist Kenshu Shimada of DePaul University in Chicago along with his colleagues, the body size of the iconic gigantic Megalodon or megatooth shark, about 50 feet in length, was much larger compared to body …

Ancient fossils reveal the cartilage-based skeletons of sharks may have evolved from bony fish
4 years, 6 months ago

Ancient fossils reveal the cartilage-based skeletons of sharks may have evolved from bony fish

Daily Mail  

Sharks were thought to have evolved with a cartilage-based skeleton before other types of fish formed a boney structure, but a new discovery turns that on its head. An ancient 'armoured fish' skull found in Mongolio has changed the way scientists think about shark skeletons - suggesting they may have evolved from bony fish. The discovery of the 410-million-year-old fish …

Giant fish from 380 million years ago was a suspension feeder
4 years, 10 months ago

Giant fish from 380 million years ago was a suspension feeder

Daily Mail  

A giant fish that lived around 380 million years ago fed in a similar way to basking sharks, the second-largest living shark in the world today, scientists report. Titanichthys jaws were less resilient than those of other placoderm species that fed on large or hard-shelled prey during the so-called Devonian period – 140 million years before the first dinosaurs roamed …

Scientists have found a 330-million-year-old shark’s head fossilized in a Kentucky cave
5 years, 2 months ago

Scientists have found a 330-million-year-old shark’s head fossilized in a Kentucky cave

CNN  

CNN — Kentucky’s Mammoth Cave National Park is a long way from the ocean, but newly discovered fossils suggest the area was once teeming with sharks. Scientists have identified the remains of 15 to 20 different species of sharks deep in the cave, including part of the head of a great white-sized monster that’s partially protruding from a wall, paleontologist …

Megalodon extinction: Great whites may have wiped out the biggest shark that ever lived
6 years, 1 month ago

Megalodon extinction: Great whites may have wiped out the biggest shark that ever lived

CNN  

CNN — The megalodon – also known as the biggest shark ever – became extinct a million years earlier than previously thought, due to competition from much smaller great white sharks, according to new research. To estimate the extinction date the team used the densely sampled rock record of California and Baja California, Mexico, and found that genuine fossil occurrences …

Megalodon: Mystery behind extinction of prehistoric 60ft shark may have been solved
6 years, 1 month ago

Megalodon: Mystery behind extinction of prehistoric 60ft shark may have been solved

The Independent  

Sign up for our free Health Check email to receive exclusive analysis on the week in health Get our free Health Check email Get our free Health Check email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy The megalodon, a giant prehistoric shark which has inspired numerous documentaries, …

Fossils show massive T-Rex, small ancient carpet shark as neighbors eons ago
6 years, 2 months ago

Fossils show massive T-Rex, small ancient carpet shark as neighbors eons ago

Firstpost  

We found microscopic shark teeth right beside bones of the largest predators of all time: Researcher. Scientists conducting a painstaking examination of two tons of rocks left over after the fossilized bones of the celebrated Tyrannosaurus rex named Sue, extricated in the 1990s, came across a surprise: shark teeth. Galagadon, related to a group called carpet sharks found in Indo-Pacific …

Prehistoric shark with 'spaceship-shaped' teeth discovered in ancient riverbed
6 years, 2 months ago

Prehistoric shark with 'spaceship-shaped' teeth discovered in ancient riverbed

The Independent  

Sign up for our free Health Check email to receive exclusive analysis on the week in health Get our free Health Check email Get our free Health Check email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Tiny teeth sifted from over two tonnes of prehistoric earth revealed a bottom-dwelling creature similar …

The Meg is a horror story but our treatment of sharks is scarier
6 years, 7 months ago

The Meg is a horror story but our treatment of sharks is scarier

ABC  

After 20 years of development hell, the film The Meg opens in Australia this week. Andrew Marvell used shark teeth to describe crippling commodity taxes in his Last Instructions to a Painter, while John Greenleaf Whittier chillingly described sharks as the partners of slave-traders as they waited beneath boats for the diseased and dead to be tossed overboard in The …

Dinosaur-era shark with 300 teeth, dating back 80 million years, caught off the coast of Portugal
7 years, 4 months ago

Dinosaur-era shark with 300 teeth, dating back 80 million years, caught off the coast of Portugal

India TV News  

Dinosaur-era shark with 300 teeth, dating back 80 million years, caught off the coast of Portugal In an incredible finding, scientists have caught the rare frilled shark, which dates back 80 million years to the ‘age of the dinosaurs’ and is one of the oldest living species today. In an incredible finding, scientists have caught the rare frilled shark, which …

A new species of extinct shark is discovered: Prehistoric predator is related to the 60ft Megalodon
8 years, 5 months ago

A new species of extinct shark is discovered: Prehistoric predator is related to the 60ft Megalodon

Daily Mail  

A mysterious species of shark that lived 20 million years ago and was 12 feet long has managed to escape anyone's notice - until now. 'It's quite remarkable that such a large lamniform shark with such a global distribution had evaded recognition until now, especially because there are numerous Miocene localities where fossil shark teeth are well sampled,' said Professor …

Competition for food drove megalodon sharks to extinction 2 million years ago
9 years ago

Competition for food drove megalodon sharks to extinction 2 million years ago

Daily Mail  

Jaws may have terrified you at the cinema, but the iconic great white would have been dwarfed by Carcharocles megalodon, the largest shark in the history of the planet. The giant creatures lived between 23 million and 2.6 million years ago and scientists are divided over how and why the species perished. Carcharocles megalodon lived between 23 million and 2.6 …

Six-inch long teeth of ancient Megalodon shark found on North Carolina beach
9 years, 5 months ago

Six-inch long teeth of ancient Megalodon shark found on North Carolina beach

The Independent  

Sign up for our free Health Check email to receive exclusive analysis on the week in health Get our free Health Check email Get our free Health Check email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Six-inch long teeth from the Megalodon, a prehistoric shark which roamed the oceans 15 million …

Now THAT's a sea monster: Massive shark longer than a TWO-STOREY building hunted the oceans 100 million years ago
9 years, 9 months ago

Now THAT's a sea monster: Massive shark longer than a TWO-STOREY building hunted the oceans 100 million years ago

Daily Mail  

been two top predators in the Early Cretaceous seas If you thought the great white shark in Jaws was as scary as sharks get, think again. The specimen, believed to be Leptostyrax macrorhiza, is thought to have measured 20ft long, which while big, wasn't as large as an unknown Kansas specimen from the Early Cretaceous The sea monster, called Leptostyrax …

New study rubbishes claim that Megalodon still roams the ocean
10 years, 5 months ago

New study rubbishes claim that Megalodon still roams the ocean

Daily Mail  

It is the largest shark ever to have lived, weighing 50 tonnes and measuring 18 feet long. The study may also one day help scientists better understand the potential widespread effects of losing the planet's top predators, said lead author Catalina Pimiento. 'I was drawn to the study of Carcharocles megalodon's extinction because it is fundamental to know when species …

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