The True Size of Megalodon

[suspsy]

Length estimates have been around for a long time, but now there are estimates for Megalodon's head and fins. Its dorsal fin would have been taller than a grown man.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-71387-y

[Crackington]

You're gonna need a bigger boat 😉

[Stegotyranno420]

No hate agaisnt the study or anything like that, but why is the 1.65 meter man about as big as 3 meters

[stargatedalek]

50 feet is not an unusual length measurement, that's been considered the reasonable upper length for a good while now, but it's pretty neat to have a better idea of the potential size or proportions of individual body parts.

[Tyto_Theropod]

This is coming from a non-specialist, but it always occurs to me as strange to compare C./O. megalodon to the great white specifically given that the lamniformes  (to which both belong, only being distantly related otherwise AFAIK) are such a diverse group.  I suppose it's because megalodon likely had a similar hunting style, but is there any other evidence for it having a specifically great white type appearance?

[Loon]

No hate agaisnt the study or anything like that, but why is the 1.65 meter man about as big as 3 meters

He's not. He's pointing his feet downward and has flippers on, so he looks longer than he actually is.

[SBell]

No hate agaisnt the study or anything like that, but why is the 1.65 meter man about as big as 3 meters

He's not. He's pointing his feet downward and has flippers on, so he looks longer than he actually is.

Especially if those are the big, open ocean fins. They'll add a third to his apparent length!

[Faelrin]

Nice to have estimates in regards to its proportions. I'm curious now though. How well does the recently released CollectA one hold up against this? The blunt head also looks interesting.

[Dinoxels]

I don't know why people scale up a Great White to look like Megalodon, which this study seems to be doing. Animals have very different body plans depending on their sizes. Scaling up a Great White and calling it Megalodon is just a little odd to me. I do love the colors they chose for this illustration.

[Tyto_Theropod]

I don't know why people scale up a Great White to look like Megalodon, which this study seems to be doing. Animals have very different body plans depending on their sizes. Scaling up a Great White and calling it Megalodon is just a little odd to me. I do love the colors they chose for this illustration.

I agree.  It's a cool colour scheme, more interesting than simple 'dark on top, pale underneath' but still plausible for a shark.

[dyno77]

some old estimates put it at 70-80ft which iv always found interesting because either way its a huge beast.
Any prehistoric shark over 25ft is huge, and iv saw photo of dinosaur George holding a very large megalodon tooth that was over 8inches and im sure it wasn't some hoax tooth either just an rare example of a very large megalodon tooth.