Clash of the Sea Titans: Melville's Megalodon and Leviathan (7 photos)
An extinct genus of ancient giant sharks, megalodons, are considered the former “king of the seas,” but even these predators had their enemies. This enemy was Melville's Miocene sperm whale Leviathan, which also has not survived to this day. The confrontation between these sea giants will be discussed further.
The length of the megalodon was approximately 16 to 20 meters, it weighed up to 40 tons, and its teeth were 18-19 cm long, in five rows, and their number was 276. The bite force of the mega shark is simply stunning - more than 108,514 newtons, which is the largest among the animals existing in our time. This shark was at the top of the food chain and could eat large cetaceans or other large prey such as Leedsichthys. Her hunting tactics were identical to those of the white shark. However, when the oceans got colder, the megalodon's diet was forced to swim to warmer waters, leading to the extinction of these monsters. Also, ancient toothed whales, sperm whales or killer whales, which devoured megalodon juveniles, or even adults, contributed to their disappearance. One of the mega shark's worst enemies was the giant sperm whale Melville's Leviathan, named after the writer Herman Melville, famous for his novel Moby Dick.
Melville's Leviathan (Livyatan melvillei) - a giant sperm whale, 17.5 - 25 meters long, weighing 90 - 120 tons, was also at the top of the food chain. He owns the largest teeth known to science, 12 cm wide and 36 cm long. Moreover, they grew on the upper jaw, unlike modern sperm whales. The jaw of this whale was 3 meters long, and was intended to bite through large whales. These sperm whales also lived in schools, and were quite capable of driving megalodons away from their young.
As you can see, a giant sperm whale could fight with a megalodon and even defeat the “king of the underwater world.” They could well feed on young sharks, as well as adults. And in general, even cunning killer whales could kill a megalodon in a group of 2-3.
And indeed, killer whales were much smarter than megalodon, they could change tactics, enter and attack from any side, communicate their actions and crush the “king of the seas.”
Today, killer whales still rank above these predators, easily killing the largest white sharks or simply driving them away from their prey.
On the left is a white shark tooth, on the right is a megalodon tooth
