Boy, six, finds giant megalodon shark tooth on Bawdsey beach

A six-year-old boy found a shark tooth from a giant prehistoric megalodon that could be 20 million years old.

Sammy Shelton found a tooth on the beach during the bank holiday.

Prof Ben Garrod, an expert on sharks, confirmed that it was a megalodon.

Peter Shelton said Sammy was very attached to it and was sleeping near his bed.

The giant shark's tooth was found by a pair of people who were searching for fossils.

Mr Shelton said that Sammy was very excited as we had seen fragments of shark teeth on the beach, but nothing as big and heavy as this.

Photographs of the find were sent to Prof Garrod, who is an evolutionary biologist at the University of East Anglia.

He said that the shark's teeth are not often found around the UK coastline.

Maybe just a handful a year, but this is a particularly good example, in really good condition, whereas they are usually quite worn when found.

Scientists estimate that the megalodon could grow up to 60 feet in length and weigh up to 60 tons.

Prof Garrod said that these werespecialist whale eaters who were ambush hunters.

The seas around the world were dominated by the megalodon.

• The cartilaginous fish (whose skeleton is made of cartilage rather than bone) was a carnivore and had no known predators
• It could eat anything it liked, but its favourite food was whales, although seals would also have been on the menu
• Most of this shark's hunting was in the open sea (juveniles lived closer to shore) and it attacked its prey near the surface, when it came up for air
• Megalodon could swim at high speed in short bursts so tended to rush its prey from beneath
• It would first aim to disable its prey by injuring a flipper or the tail, then once unable to swim properly, the victim would be easy to finish off
• Lived from about 20 million years ago, long after the dinosaurs became extinct 65 million years ago

The giants were active for 22 million years before they became extinct.

Prof Garrod said that Sammy's find was a really big thing for the little boy.

He said that not many people who look for a megalodon tooth actually find one.

I have been searching since I was a child and I know all the beaches around the area, but I still haven't found my megalodon.

His father said that Sammy took the tooth to his group after he was awarded his explorer badges.

Sammy described the massive tooth as his best-ever find, and said it was just laying on the sand and pebbles.

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