20 million years ago the Megalodon was King of the oceans the largest shark that ever lived it ate other mega sharks for breakfast but as an Ice Age engulfed the world this enormous sea Giant's time came to an end what if through a miraculous twist of fate the Megalodon had managed to survive just how large and scary would the Megalodon be today and what would happen to humans who went into the ocean this is what if and here's what would happen if the Megalodon never stopped evolving a Megalodon living in the 21st century one that never stopped evolving would be a truly frightening and Majestic creature today's Meg would likely have expanded to the size of a blue whale about 30 m long and a hefty 200 tons in weight that's as heavy as 33 elephants with a beating heart as big as a car today's Megalodon would need to eat 3600 kg of food a day and would be the largest animal that's ever existed it would also be equipped with some new survival traits ones that have helped it last these 3 million years what do you think those traits would be well before we get into the making of Meg 2. 0 let's look at what the Megalodon was like in its Heyday let's go back 23 million years ago during the mayine and pine epics the Megalodon was roaming about conquering the oceans it's spanned about 18 M long that's three times longer than the biggest great white shark we've ever encountered it since it was so massive obviously it weighed a lot as much as a space shuttle about 30 to 65 metric tons it was equipped with enormous teeth the size of a human hand in fact the word Megalodon when translated from its origin in ancient Greek means Big Tooth serrated on one side these teeth were perfect for sinking into large meaty fish and tearing them apart throughout its life the mag like other sharks would shed and grow new teeth possibly growing up to 40,000 teeth over its lifetime these teeth chewed through a lot of food about 1,00 kg that's 2500 lb every single day that's the equivalent of two cows or 10,000 Quarter Pounders every single day but those were off the menu in this era what was around were the Bine whales these were a key part of the Meg's diet and the Meg was also a cannibal if it got a chance it would happily Feast on another Meg if it could this giant shark was also a ruthless killer it had a pretty straightforward but effective strategy to finish off its victims it would slide into the water beneath its prey so it couldn't be seen then it would shoot up vertically to slam into the animal at high speed imagine being pummeled with 65 tons of pure Meg the prey usually large whales didn't stand a chance against this high- pressure assault while they were recovering from this full body blow the Meg would sink its teeth into the whale usually in the rib cage area after that kind of injury the fight was over then the Meg could settle into a nice meal as a victim of the Meg you could also get swallowed up whole yeah with a skull 4 and2 m long it could comfortably take in something as large as a whole family car so watch out for this terrifying creature when it comes into the modern day and of course the Meg had Mega babies baby Megs were 3 to four beers long so good luck coming out alive if you run into one of those the Megalodon really came into its own during the mayene Epic from 23 to 5 million years ago at the start of the period the Earth was warm but then later it began to cool during this time the Meg preferred hanging out in warm tropical waters in fact it roamed multiple places across the globe Meg teeth as old as 3 million years have been found in waters everywhere except Antarctica as long as there was enough food to Feast on in the water the Meg was happy so with a creature this deadly and Powerful Conquering the Seas how did it man managed to go extinct well maybe it was climate change during the Meine period a cooling Trend had begun this carried all the way into the pia scene and gave way to a big freeze during the era after that 2. 6 million years ago an Ice Age began according to one Theory these freezing temperatures from the Ice Age may not have been suitable for the mag and they could have led to its Extinction but other scientist disagree studying the Meg found that temperature fluctuations seen in earlier periods didn't impact the shark it managed to survive the Meg was able to survive changes in temperature because it was partially warm-blooded it had an adaptation so it could warm its Blood using heat from its muscles as it moved this allowed it to maintain a body temperature 7° C higher than the surrounding water so while it per preferred warmer weather it could survive in cooler temperatures as well so what was different about the place to see nice age well for one this ice age was a lot colder than before the mag and other creatures that had evolved in the last tens of millions of years had never experienced such a deep freeze the Pline Ice Age 2.
6 million years ago was the most severe temperature drop that Earth had faced in the last 500 mill years as the ice crept over the Earth there was a severe decrease in habitat for both land and sea creatures sea levels dropped 200 M and Coastal land areas dried up as water turned to ice and sea levels dropped the Bine whale the Meg's main prey was fighting to survive and it wasn't just the cold changes in ocean currents reduced the flow of nutrients in parts of the ocean o areas that were Prime feeding grounds for the Bine whale this affected its population and there was another problem Bine whales give birth in warmer Waters but then migrate to colder Waters to feed with the rapid reduction in warmer Waters their breeding grounds would have also been disrupted another pressure leading to Extinction with Bine whales going extinct the mag had to focus on smaller prey like dolphins and seals but this would have been a problem because the Meg was facing competition for prey from a smaller and more agile competitor the great white shark onethird the size of the mag the great white shark was nimbler needed less to eat and was competing for the Meg's food both Bolen whales and the quicker dolphins and seals and in the battle for fast moving smaller prey great whites were the winners the Meg's breeding grounds would also have been disrupted its babies lived in nurseries and shallow Waters as sea levels oscillate up and down these shallow Waters would have risen and then receded unpredictably they would no longer have provided a safe spot for baby Megs to survive and at the same time the Meg's massive feeding requirements for energy and to maintain its high internal body temperature we're not getting any smaller so that's what led to the Megs Extinction too big to maintain too much competition and too little to eat it feels a little wild that this apex predator essentially starved to death but could we rewrite history could the Megalodon somehow survive into the modern day well let's take a look at a scenario where the Meg was able to evolve to get bigger and more powerful than ever before in order for the Megalodon to survive maybe we should see what would happen if we avoided the Ice Age altogether ice ages are triggered by several things one key factor is how far away the Earth is from the sun because this impacts the amount of heat earth receives then there are shifts in plate tectonics affecting the movement of land masses and the flow of ocean currents on Earth so what if this Ice Age never happened well massive volcanic eruptions could have warmed Earth this happens if they throw large amounts of greenhouse gases like water vapor and carbon dioxide into the atmosphere so how about the kind of volcanic action that led to a massive heat Spike 56 million years ago at that time Earth suddenly got super hot massive amounts of carbon dioxide entered the atmosphere raising the temperature by up to 8° C the sea also became incredibly warm in the tropics it was like a warm bathtub with temperatures around 38° C maybe this could have offset the coming Ice Age but on the other hand this heat Spike also caused a bunch of creatures to go extinct so it's not clear if this would have been a sure way to save the Megalodon so we're going to have to look for another miracle to save the mag could the mag have survived the Ice Age some other way after all many other species did gray white sharks made it through so did gray whales so are there traits that the Meg could have borrowed to make it through this time the Meg found it difficult to compete with great white sharks for food because the Meg was three times larger the Meg's metabolic requirements would have been significantly higher to maintain that body weight at the same time it would have made them less Nimble than the great white shark one solution the Meg needed to adapt with the times shrink a little maybe the Meg could have borrowed a trait from the skate this is another fish made of cartilage just like the Megalodon winter skate living in Canada have shrunk their body size 45% in response to water temperatures going up 10% and this didn't take the millions of years they did this over a period of 7,000 years this was a response to environmental changes not a result of gradual natural selection and the knowledge to do this can be preserved in sharks genomes some sharks have very large genomes containing traits that they can drawn when they need kind of like a fire extinguisher stored away in a glass box that break open during an emergency so let's give the Meg this kind of fancy genome okay so now as the ice sets in our mag has shrunk it's 55% as large as it used to be don't worry this change isn't going to last forever it's just an adaptation the Megalodon will make to get through the ice age now that it's smaller its energy needs are lower and it's better able to compete with those vicious great white sharks I told you earlier that adult Megs were solitary creatures well that was fine when they were super large they could bash other large creatures with their Superior weight but now that we've Shrunk The Meg down a bit it's going to need some other strategies to further help our Megs survive we're going to take a lesson from killer whales they're going to form a pod maybe the Megs would mimic a behavioral feature of transient orcas these form smaller PODS of up to five individuals which are mainly geared towards hunting this would be in line with the solitary nature of the adult megal da while at the same time incorporating a behavioral feature that helps the Meg to survive and while it's doing that it's going to diversify its diet it's no longer just Bine whales Meg you're going to eat squid fish and any other marine animal you come across this broad diversification of diet helped the orcas survive the last ice age and it'll help the Meg get through it too sharks actually have a super efficient digestive system that makes use of almost everything they eat because of this feature shark poop mostly looks like goo that's all that's left at the end of digestion after they squeeze all the nutrients out and now the Megs goo is going to have even more variety good and next we'll make the Meg omnivorous this is a trait we'll take from the Bonnet head shark so occasionally the mag will eat some seagrass when it needs to survive okay so now we have a smaller Meg one that hunts and packs and eats a more diverse diet this Meg is better suited to ward off the threat from great white sharks and as ballen whales die out this Meg has other stuff to eat okay I'm feeling pretty good about our Meg's chances but there's one more modification we need to make we'd like to give the Megalodon an additional feature to help it in colder Waters the Meg already was partially warm-blooded but it definitely preferred warm subtropical Waters a cold water adaptation would definitely help it survive the future ice ages so we'll borrow another feature from the whale we'll give it a thick layer of blubber this will serve as insulation when Waters become super chilly okay are we done well no maybe just one more thing during the pine Ice Age the Meg's babies suffered when water receded from the nurseries on the shore so maybe a change to where the Meg gives birth to its babies would be a good adaptation for this we want to borrow a secret from the white shark where the white shark gives birth is a mystery to scientists there are theories that white sharks give birth far out in the water this trait would have made their babies less vulnerable to the shifting Shoreline as the ice ages came and went if the mag could adopt this trait well it would ensure the survival of the Next Generation okay so I think our refurbished Meg I'm going to call it Meg 2. 0 is now equipped to take on pretty much anything Mother Nature throws at it time for you to jump into the time machine and see how the new Meg fairs with this Ice Age then we'll come back to the modern day 2. 6 million years ago over the course of the next 7,000 Years you'll see the Megalodon with its new larger genome draw on specific traits to shrink its size it's now about 50% of what it used to be still larger than the great white sharks but with lower feeding and energy requirements than before the Bine whales have gone extinct but the Meg is happy to sink its teeth into any creature squids seals they're all fair game the white sharks find their old enemy is smaller and more Nimble and they're surprised that the Meg is now hunting in a pod of four or five white sharks can't get close as a group of Megs are circling their prey just like before a blow is dealt from beneath and then before you know it the rest of the mags have pounced on the desperate victim tearing it to shreds the white sharks are the losers in the fight with Megalodon 2.
0 they pick their spots but stay clear of direct competition in order to survive as the place to scen era continues the Earth earth goes through multiple glaciation Cycles in addition to its partial warm-bloodedness the additional layer of blubber that Meg 2. 0 has enabled it to survive as Earth's waters turned cold at the height of the Ice Age the Meg migrates to the warmest Waters it can find around the tropics and subtropics this was a strategy used by orcas many of which survived in the warmer Waters around Africa during the Ice Age as many eggs from different parts of the globe migrate to these regions to weather the cold the genan pool becomes more diverse 13,000 years ago okay while meapa are going extinct on land because of both shifts and climate and human Predators you can see Meg 2. 0 King of the oceans is able to survive these shifts adapted to both warm and cold Waters and with its new layer of blubber it seeks Refuge in deep cold Waters to survive human Hunting Expeditions it gives birth to babies deep in the sea far from human eyes 11,700 years ago okay the last ice age ends the Megalodon under go a new shift its DNA recognizes a change in the environment signaling that it can grow larger again in a few thousand years it doubles its size and it's back to where it was 2.
6 million years ago there's a lot of food in the oceans its hunting strategy is Flawless and its secretive breeding approach ensures the survival of new baby Megs new generations of the Meg grow bigger and stronger the Meg reaches a staggering 200 tons it's 30 m long and its teeth are longer and sharper than never before everything in the ocean and on land fears this creature this is Meg 2. 0 the unchallenged king of the oceans whales won't be able to grow to the massive size they do today the Meg's voracious appetite keeps them in check modern era in the 19th and 20th Century humans hunt whales but they learn to stay clear of the Megalodon if hunting boats go after them a pack of Meg 2. 0's swarm around the boats and Destroy them attacking in a coordinated effort the lessons from figh fighting great white sharks 2.
6 million years ago come in handy for this Predator today for humans swimming in the ocean comes with a warning you may be attacked by a stray Megalodon 2. 0 only swim in areas where lifeguards are around but I'm not sure there'll be much help the med 2. 0 is somewhat misunderstood it's not that this massive shark targets humans as a food source after all the Meg needs 3600 kg of food a day that means it would have to eat 45 to 60 humans in order to make a meal of us that's like eating a ton of candy instead of a proper meal but that doesn't mean they wouldn't still want to eat you if given the chance and if the water's choppy and humans are splashing about a stray mag floating along might mistake a human for a smaller fish Chomp but once it realize is you're not a fish the Meg might back away and try to find something more nutritious fishing boats will need to steer clear the Meg as well the Meg 2.
0 will be dominating the oceans and most popular fishing spots and it wouldn't take kindly to any competition even the human kind these are the areas modern fishing boats would have to fear and avoid and if they don't they might end up getting attacked by a pod of angry Megs this could also affect our ability to fish Maybe sushi would eventually be off the menu in certain parts of the world with a creature as dominant as the Megalodon fishing may become a lot more rare for us humans but that's if we choose not to fight back maybe we'll end up hunting down megalodons if we're given the right technology or we'll just stay clear of the areas the Meg hunts in if the Meg were around today it would be at the top of the marine food chain as apex predators they'd keep populations of fish under control but would the Meg be able to dominate forever the only thing that threatens their future would be decreasing food in our oceans with climate change and the oceans becoming more acidic the marine life that the Meg depends on are dying out but sea levels are rising warm waters are no longer confined to the tropics the warmth is migrating northward and Southward as sea levels rise to engulf Bangladesh today Venice tomorrow will Meg 2.
