9 Horrifying Facts about the Megalodon

The more you learn about this ancient aquatic beast, the more you’ll want to stay out of the ocean for good!

The Megalodon was absolutely massive. The scariest thing about Meg is her sheer size. The presence of any shark will paralyze most normal people in their tracks, but the Megalodon was something… special…. A super-sized shark with all of the bloodthirsty ambition that you’d expect from the fiercest Great White, only much, much bigger.

1. The Megalodon Lurked In The Shallows

The Megalodon lurked in the shallows. We tend to think of the mighty Meg as being a deep, cold water dweller. Big mistake. The Megalodon loved to hunt in the warm, shallow waters, often separating the waves with her enormous size.

As scary as it is to complete the Meg trawling the depths, it’s even worse to think about her basking in the warm waters near our shores. That’s exactly what she would do.

2. The Megalodon Was A Cannibalistic Nightmare

The Megalodon was a cannibalistic nightmare that preyed on other sharks. To say that the Meg was not a picky eater is a huge understatement. This nightmare denizen of the seas had a wide palate and an unrelenting taste for blood.

During her reign, the Megalodon was an apex predator- combing the seas for anything and everything to stuff into her massive jaw. Being at the top has its perks, and the Meg soon developed a taste for her own kind.

3.The Megalodon Had A Massive Jaw

The Meg had a gigantic jaw that you’ve never seen in your life. We’ve established the size of the Megalodon, but we’ve only scratched the surface of what made this watery beast so absolutely terrifying. Two words: gaping jaw.

4. The Megalodon Had Five Rows Of Deadly Teeth

The Megalodon had five deadly rows of razor-sharp teeth. If you were sucked into the Meg’s maw whole, you got away lucky. This super-sized shark had some of the most fearsome teeth in the world; a full five rows of enormous chompers all filed to a knife-like point. In total, the Meg had roughly two-hundred and eighty teeth,

5. The Megalodon Is Not Just A Big Great White Shark

The Megalodon was in a class all of its own. There’s a common misconception that the Meg was just a giant Great White Shark. Not so! This maritime monstrosity was in a class all of her own. Although the Meg might look like the Great White shark from your worst nightmares, she is actually a distant cousin of the Otodus shark; another prehistoric boogeyman that roamed the high seas.

6. The Megalodon Lived Everywhere

The Megalodon was a horrifying citizen of the world. Today when we think about “citizens of the world” we think about cosmopolitan folks who are sophisticated beyond measure. Back in prehistoric times, it meant something… a little bit different.

The Meg was a true citizen of the world, but you’d hardly call this bloodthirsty beast “sophisticated”! Being an adaptable apex hunter, the Meg was able to trawl waters all over the planet. Her sheer size made crossing the ocean a breeze, and this massive beast haunted waters from Argentina to Australia.

7. The Megalodon Might Still Be Around

The Megalodon might still be lurking in our oceans. Just because nobody has credibly seen or encountered a Meg, doesn’t mean that they don’t exist. The oceans are deep and mysterious places, and we’re just now learning the breath of what actually lives below the waves.

The Meg is thought to have gone extinct in the Pilocene era, but that doesn’t compute when you consider the countless stories of massive oceanic beasts that exist in just about every type of mythology on the planet. Every culture has a big shark tale, and most of them wind up at the same conclusion- there’s something big and scary out there in the depths.

8. The Megalodon Bite Packed A Huge Punch

The Megalodon’s bite was one of the strongest forces on the planet. We’ve established that the Meg was a predator that you didn’t want to tangle with, but her gaping maw is only a small part of the story. The Meg had a fearsome bite, and could slice through the big bones of whales like a machete through warm butter.

The full crush of the Megalodon bite packed a big punch- and 40,000 pounds of sheer pressure. That’s stronger than any animal alive today, or virtually any beast from prehistoric times. The Meg was a force; an awe-inspiring creature whose bite is legendary.

9.The Megalodon Was A Bottomless Pit

The Megalodon was never satisfied. The Meg was a notorious snacker, and is known as the bottomless pit of the seas for her insatiable appetite and indiscriminate tastes.

The Megalodon would swallow unlucky creatures whole, grind them to a paste with her five razor-sharp rows of teeth, or annihilate them with her massive bite, but she was never fully satisfied.