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July 22, 2021

Megalodon may have been bigger than previously thought

An artist's reconstruction of the extinct megatooth shark, Otodus megalodon. Researchers used a new, more reliable set of calculations to estimate the size of megalodon and discovered the extinct shark may have been bigger than previously thought, measuring up to 65 feet, nearly the length of two school buses.

[Research supported by U.S. National Science Foundation grant DGE 1315138 and DRL 1322725.]

Learn more in the Florida Museum of Natural History news story School lesson gone wrong leads to new, bigger megalodon size estimate. (Date image taken: unknown; date originally posted to NSF Multimedia Gallery: July 22, 2021)

Credit: Calvert Marine Museum; illustration by artist Tim Scheirer


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