Sharks Throughout History
You may wonder why I dive into the history of the art subject I am bringing to your attention. It is intriguing finding out where the art stems from and/or how and when it came into existence. Inquiring minds want to know and I don't consider myself an exception to the rule. :-)
The great white shark may be the largest shark at present, but is nothing compared to its 52–60 feet, 100 tons weighing, ancient relative the Megalodon. This creature lived about 28 to 1.5 million years ago and the name is derived from the Greek language and means "big tooth".
That is quite understandable, considering that the teeth of this extinct species were approximately 7 inches long. With a biting power of between 10.8 and 18.2 tons, you can imagine it had no problems crushing anything that came between its jaws.
The water temperature was higher at that time, allowing Megalodon to reside in and travel to and over all the world's oceans. This gigantic, prehistoric predator had a broad menu which consisted of a variety of marine mammals, or any other living creature that came up for grabs.
Eventually, the biggest, prehistoric marine predator in the history of the planet went extinct. The real reason for this is not clear, but suspicions are that cooler water temperatures, dropping sea levels, and a decrease of its food supply, played a major role.
Prehistoric sharks, and the great whites of the present day, have inspired the movie and art industry for a long time. At least we won't encounter those enormous predators any longer, since they are extinct.
Or.... are they???
The great white shark may be the largest shark at present, but is nothing compared to its 52–60 feet, 100 tons weighing, ancient relative the Megalodon. This creature lived about 28 to 1.5 million years ago and the name is derived from the Greek language and means "big tooth".
That is quite understandable, considering that the teeth of this extinct species were approximately 7 inches long. With a biting power of between 10.8 and 18.2 tons, you can imagine it had no problems crushing anything that came between its jaws.
The water temperature was higher at that time, allowing Megalodon to reside in and travel to and over all the world's oceans. This gigantic, prehistoric predator had a broad menu which consisted of a variety of marine mammals, or any other living creature that came up for grabs.
Eventually, the biggest, prehistoric marine predator in the history of the planet went extinct. The real reason for this is not clear, but suspicions are that cooler water temperatures, dropping sea levels, and a decrease of its food supply, played a major role.
Prehistoric sharks, and the great whites of the present day, have inspired the movie and art industry for a long time. At least we won't encounter those enormous predators any longer, since they are extinct.
Or.... are they???
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