Giant shark ‘megalodon’ went extinct earlier than thought

Megalodon — a giant predatory shark that has inspired numerous books and blockbuster movies – likely went extinct at least one million years earlier than previously thought, a study has found. Earlier research, which used a worldwide sample of fossils, suggested that the 50-foot-long, giant shark Otodus megalodon went extinct 2.6 million years ago. Another recent study attempted to link this extinction, and that of other marine species, with a supernova known to have occurred at about this time.