Megalodon shark extinction may have been linked to great white competition

The megalodon, the largest shark that ever lived, may have died from a prehistoric food fight.

A study of the ocean giant's fossil teeth suggests it had to compete for food with the great white shark.

The megalodon may have been extinct three million years ago because of the battle for diminishing stocks of whales and other prey.

Sea level changes were one of the environmental pressures that played a role.

The extinction of the megalodon has been a mystery for a long time.

Changes in sea level, habitat loss and reduction of prey are some of the factors that have been proposed.

International researchers used zinc in the teeth of living and extinct sharks as a tool to understand the diet of long-dead animals.

Chemical clues in the teeth of living sharks and 13 fossil megalodon teeth suggest that the great white shark and the megalodon may have competed for the same food, including whales, dolphins and porpoises.

The scientists said that this may have been a factor in the demise of the megalodon.

Prof Thomas Tutken of Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz, Germany, said that this is a piece in the puzzle of evidence that there was competition between the modern great white and the megalodon on aquatic food resources in the oceans at the time when both were still alive.

Catalina Pimiento ofSwansea University said more work was needed to solve the mystery of what happened to the megalodon.

She said that the extinction has been studied from many different angles over the last decade.

The extent to which megalodon competed with other sharks remains a mystery.

The Otodus megalodon was a shark that lived in the oceans for 22 million years. Its name means big tooth.

The megalodon is three times bigger than the great white shark and can grow up to 60 metres in length.

A six-year-old boy found a shark tooth belonging to a giant prehistoric megalodon in Suffolk.

Sammy Shelton found a tooth on the beach.