Dino shark’s babies adult human-sized
A PREHISTORIC shark gave birth to babies larger than most adult humans, which grew by feeding on unhatched eggs in the womb, a study suggests.
The megalodon, which lived 15 to 3.6 million years ago, reached at least 50ft in length, researchers said.
CT scanning techniques on incremental growth bands in megalodon vertebral specimens indicated that the sharks were around 6.6ft at birth.
The data also indicated embryonic megalodon practised oophagy – or intrauterine cannibalism – by feeding on its mother’s unfertilised eggs.
Lead author Kenshu Shimada, of DePaul University in Chicago, said the shark was “one of the largest carnivores that ever existed on Earth”.