Not Your Average Tooth Ache

Megalodon Tooth

With the refurbishment of our museum galleries coming along nicely, we’ve had a great opportunity to get a closer look at some of our collections.

Perhaps one of our favourites from the Natural History collection is the rather frightening Pliocene shark’s tooth.

The extinct shark, Megalodon, was estimated to be 13 metres long (over twice the length of the average great white shark) and so, not surprisingly, was one of the world’s largest predators.

Megalodon teeth would vary greatly in size but this specimen, which is over 120mm long, makes it around three times larger than that of a great white sharks. Never mind Jaws, this is the real marauder of the sea.

Its sharp serrated teeth were probably used to attack seals and other marine mammals.

With the last Megalodon shark dying out some 1.5 million years ago, it makes it that bit easier to go near the ocean again.