Megalodon was a large species of shark that lived over 2 million years ago. Megalodons are known to have been huge, but new calculations and research show they were even bigger and heavier than previously thought.

The name “megalodon” means giant tooth, and five million years ago megalodon “ruled” in the world ocean. New estimates show that megalodons were over 17 meters long and 67 tons in weight.

The largest megalodons could reach 20 meters in length and could open their jaws so wide that they could swallow an 8-meter-long killer whale in five bites.

The researchers made a 3D computer reconstruction of the megalodon, starting with several material items, such as the teeth of the megalodon discovered over the years, as well as the fossilized spine of such a predator, discovered 160 years ago and stored in Belgium.

Megalodon was apparently fast for its size, could swim at a speed of 5 km/h, was the length of a bus and 2-3 times larger than modern great white sharks. It is suspected that these predators could swim thousands of kilometers without stopping in search of food.

The study was published in Science Advances under the title: The extinct shark Otodus megalodon was a transoceanic superpredator: findings from 3D modeling.

Sources: New York Times, Guardian