TickiT 03083 Giant Teeth Demonstration set & We're Going to the Dentist: Going for a Check-up

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A tooth from a giant ichthyosaur the size of a whale has deepened our understanding of these Mesozoic marine monsters. So while the more robust teeth become fossilised relatively easily, only in very special circumstances will soft tissue be preserved. The origins of the ichthyosaurs start in the aftermath of the worst ever mass extinction at the end of the Permian Period over 250 million years ago. Uyeno, T.; Sakamoto, O.; Sekine, H. (1989). "The Description of an Almost Complete Tooth Set of Carcharodon megalodon from a Middle Miocene Bed in the Saitama Prefecture, Japan". Saitama Museum of Natural History Bulletin. 7: 73–85.

a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Klimley, Peter; Ainley, David (1996). "Evolution". Great White Sharks: The Biology of Carcharodon carcharias. San Diego, California: Academic Press. ISBN 978-0-12-415031-7. OCLC 212425118. Batista KB, et al. (2018). Orthodontic treatmentfor prominent upper front teeth (Class II malocclusion) in children andadolescents. DOI: a b c d e f g h i j k l Pimiento, C.; MacFadden, B. J.; Clements, C. F.; Varela, S.; Jaramillo, C.; Velez-Juarbe, J.; Silliman, B. R. (2016). "Geographical distribution patterns of Carcharocles megalodon over time reveal clues about extinction mechanisms". Journal of Biogeography. 43 (8): 1645–1655. doi: 10.1111/jbi.12754. S2CID 55776834.Most reconstructions show megalodon looking like an enormous great white shark, Carcharodon carcharias. This is now believed to be incorrect.

In 2010, Ehret estimated that megalodon had a fast growth rate nearly two times that of the extant great white shark. He also estimated that the slowing or cessation of somatic growth in megalodon occurred around 25 years of age, suggesting that this species had an extremely delayed sexual maturity. [101] In 2021, Shimada and colleagues calculated the growth rate of an approximately 9.2m (30ft) individual based on the Belgian vertebrate column specimen that presumably contains annual growth rings on three of its vertebrae. They estimated the individual died at 46 years of age, with a growth rate of 16cm (6.3in) per year, and a length of 2m (6ft 7in) at birth. For a 15m (49ft) individual–which they considered to have been the maximum size attainable–this would equate to a lifespan of 88 to 100 years. [102] However, Cooper and his colleagues in 2022 estimated the length of this 46 year old individual at nearly 16m (52ft) based on the 3D reconstruction which resulted in the complete vertebral column to be 11.1m (36ft) long; the researchers claimed that this size estimate difference occurred due to the fact that Shimada and his colleagues extrapolated its size only based on the vertebral centra. [53] During the Pliocene, larger cetaceans appeared. [100] Megalodon apparently further refined its hunting strategies to cope with these large whales. Numerous fossilized flipper bones and tail vertebrae of large whales from the Pliocene have been found with megalodon bite marks, which suggests that megalodon would immobilize a large whale before killing and feeding on it. [51] [57] Growth and reproduction Collection of teeth of juvenile megalodon and C. chubutensis from a probable nursery area in the Gatún Formation of Panama Mature male megalodon may have had a body mass of 12.6 to 33.9 metric tons (13.9 to 37.4 short tons), and mature females may have been 27.4 to 59.4 metric tons (30.2 to 65.5 short tons), assuming that males could range in length from 10.5 to 14.3 meters (34 to 47ft) and females 13.3 to 17 meters (44 to 56ft). [40] However, it is hard to say if the tooth is from a large ichthyosaur with giant teeth or from a giant ichthyosaur with average-sized teeth.'

Missing Cousin

a b Lowery, D.; Godfrey, S.J.; Eshelman, R. (2011). "Integrated geology, paleontology, and archaeology: Native American use of fossil shark teeth in the Chesapeake Bay region". Archaeology of Eastern North America. 9: 93–108. JSTOR 23265116.