†Megalodon

Scientific name(s): Carcharocles megalodon; Otodus Megalodon

Nicknames: Megalodon, Meg, Fragalodon (broken meg teeth)

Fossil Tooth Abundance (around Peace River): Common- Uncommon

Typical Tooth size: 2 inches or less

Max tooth Size: 7+ inches

Facts:

+Juvenile megalodon teeth (commonly around 1-2 inches) are just about as long as many other predatory sharks' adult teeth

+Research in 2008 suggested that adult Megalodon sharks had a bite force of around nearly 182,000 newtons (41,000 pounds) which would be the strongest bite of any known animal ever (& almost 4x the estimated bite force from T. rex)

-Likely lived between 25-40 + years (from vertebrae analysis) & likely needed 1300- 2600 pounds of food per day (source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQ6jIYEwYro)

+Megalodon teeth differ from their ancestors (C. angustidens, C. auriculatus, C. chubbutensis, etc.) in that they have no accessory cusps (small "cusplets" that are pronounced in species such as Otodus obliquus) and have broader teeth than most