The return of Megalodon

An ancient creature lurks in the ocean, doubling the size of a T-Rex. Its gigantic jaws could crush a car, and now it's on the hunt for you. Megalodon sharks haven't existed for more than two million years, but today, we're imagining these apex predators back to wreak havoc.

Some believe Megalodons never went extinct and are hiding in the deepest depths of our oceans, like the Mariana Trench. However, if Megalodons were still around, that would be the last place you'd find them. These creatures hated cold water, preferring the warmer waters of the Mediterranean and the Caribbean. They also loved to explore the coasts of Australia and California.

If these predators were around today, they might seriously ruin your beach vacation. However, if they spotted you swimming in the ocean, they wouldn't just attack right away. This has to do with your size. Megalodon sharks were gigantic, at least 16 meters in length, so they needed a lot of food. Scientists estimate that Megs ate about 1,200 kilograms of fish every day. To hit their caloric intake goals, they even dined on sea mammals like whales and dolphins. So, you, puny human, might not be worth their attention unless you were hanging out with a group of friends. Now that's a worthier snack, and the Megalodon could devour you and your friends all in one bite.

These predators had gigantic sharp teeth. Each one of the Megalodon's teeth was as big as your hand. Unlike humans, Megs kept producing new sets of teeth every week or two. In their lifetime, they'd go through up to 40,000 of them. If they never went extinct, you could find those all over the ocean. You could find some huge carcasses too, but that wouldn't happen all too often. Scientists think that Megalodons had a lifespan of up to 100 years.

Even if humans weren't on the Megalodon's menu, their enormous appetite would hurt us in other ways. With this huge new predator in the oceans, there'd barely be any fish left for us. Not because our boats wouldn't catch anything, but because they would, and then Megalodons would hunt them down, attack, and eat everything in sight.

It's unclear why Megalodons disappeared millions of years ago, but it could be because the oceans got too cold for them. Now, they'd be in for a treat because our oceans are warming up, thanks to climate change. Megalodons would thrive and reproduce, and you’d see more and more of these predators showing up. They'd disrupt our shipping operations and potentially bring an end to the cruise industry.

Eventually, they might die out once again after eating whatever they could in the ocean and having nothing more to feed on. Or maybe the rise in global temperatures would hurt us so much that we'd be the ones to go extinct.