A new study was released this weekend suggesting that the megalodon shark became extinct around 2.6 million years ago, ending rumors that it is still alive today.
At one point, the shark was the largest to ever live, and studying its existence could give scientists insight into the potential effect of the loss of one of the world's larger predators, according to a press release issued by the University of Florida.
"I was drawn to the study of Carcharocles megalodon's extinction because it is fundamental to know when species became extinct to then begin to understand the causes and consequences of such an event," said lead author Catalina, a doctoral candidate at the Florida Museum of Natural History on the UF campus. "I also think people who are interested in this animal deserve to know what the scientific evidence shows, especially following Discovery Channel specials that implied megalodon may still be alive."
Modern predators, like sharks, are on the decline, and these findings could help measure the related consequences imposed on the ecosystem.
"When you remove large sharks, then small sharks are very abundant and they consume more of the invertebrates that we humans eat," Pimiento said. "Recent estimations show that large-bodied, shallow-water species of sharks are at greatest risk among marine animals, and the overall risk of shark extinction is substantially higher than for most other vertebrates."
By calculating the time of the megaladon's extinction, the research team was able to find giant feeder whales became established around the same time. In the future, they could try figuring out if the ecological changes caused the whales to evolve, according to the release.
In order to make their findings, the researchers used databases and scientific literature of the most recent megalodon records and used a mathematical model to figure out if they became extinct.
"The methodology that the authors used had only been previously employed to determine extinction dates in historical times, such as to estimate the extinction date of the dodo bird," Jorge Velez-Juarbe with the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County said in a statement. "In this work, scientists applied that same methodology to determine the extinction of an organism millions of years ago, instead of hundreds. It's a new tool that paleo biologists didn't have, or rather had not thought of using before."
The findings were published Oct. 22 in the journal PLOS ONE.
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