About 3.6 million years ago, Megalodon disappeared from the fossil record. Scientists think that the great white shark may have been behind the extinction of the giant predator.
The rise of great white sharks may have played a part in the decline of megalodon. The bite marks on the bones of other marine animals suggest that the two species may have competed for the same food.
The bite marks were only a snapshot of isolated interactions between predator and prey. A more complete survey of both species' diet is needed to find out if the great white sharks are starving megalodon.
They looked at the amount of zinc in the animals' teeth, not their size or shape, but how much it was.
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There is a question about what caused the megalodon's big toothache.
Zinc is important for organisms as it plays an important role in a wide range of biological processes. Zinc is put into teeth as they grow. A predator eats minerals from its prey. One of those minerals is zinc, which has two different amounts of the same element in it. The zinc isotope is heavier than the other one. The ratio of heavier to lighter zinc in an animal's teeth can reveal its position in a food chain, according to other researchers. The animal is closer to the top of the food chain if it has more of the lighter isotopes in its teeth. Chances are that the animal is a bottom-feeder if the teeth hold more of the heavier isotopes. Scientists can determine an ancient animal's trophic position using these zinc ratios.
The teeth of sharks from wild and aquarium populations were examined by the group. The zinc ratios in the teeth of living and extinct fish were compared by the researchers.
According to Live Science, great white sharks and megalodon have been evolving together for 400,000 years. Megalodon and great whites didn't compete with each other at first. The zinc ratios in fossil shark teeth show that there was a shift in the relationship between them. Great whites began to shift their position on the food chain in order to become the top predator of their own tribe. The more efficient hunter would drive the less efficient one out of existence if this happened.
The extinction of Otodus megalodon could have been caused by more than one factor, according to the study. Climate change, as well as the collapse of available food resources, could be factors in this case.
The study was published in Nature Communications.
It was originally published on Live Science
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