How Did Megalodon Really Hunt?

Megalodon - everyone’s favourite monster shark that terrorised our planet’s oceans for almost 20 million years. Except it wasn’t a monster, it was an animal. An animal that had to feed in order to survive.

#SharkWeek2021

Music by Patrick Patrikios

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[rtheragood]

I am enjoying the way you handle megalodon. An animal not a monster. Good science without the hype. Similar to classic Discovery channel. Thank you.

[galapagos]

It irks me a lot about the fact that some people still think that the Megalodon was looking like a mutant great white.

[ahmadbani]

When I was a kid my brothers and I called sharks "that Jaws fish" because of the movie. But I didn't watch the movie or know much about it and I mistakenly pronounced it as "Josh fish". This has nothing to do with the video I just thought it was funny that I called one of the most deadly and successful predators in our oceans... Josh

[deadseveredheads]

Ben, you and your channel have outdone yourselves this year!!! Truly fascinating and amazing. I don’t think I’m alone in saying we, Ben G Thomas fans, enjoy YouTube when we can take something away; rather than just mindlessly scrolling and clicking. You, Sir, provide each and every time. Thank you. Truly!

[bkjeong]

The vertical striking behaviour of GWS is actually a localized one, used specifically in False Bay (where a deepwater channel gives them enough room for this maneuver). They prefer to come in at a more diagonal angle in other areas and don’t breach nearly as often, and off shallow beaches (Cape Cod, Plettenberg Bay, etc) they will actually rely on horizontal tail chases. It only appears that vertical breaching attacks are normal GWS predatory behaviour due to distorted media exposure.

Therefore, the more common, diagonal-angle approach is much more likely for O. megalodon (and large extinct marine predators in general) than the commonly depicted vertical breaching attack.

Also, while GWS do not regularly attack prey much larger than themselves, they CAN pull it off if they want to, as there is documentation of them killing bull northern elephant seals, the calves of North Atlantic right whales, and adult beaked whales.

[florix]

5:24 isn't that survivorship bias ? If they attacked the belly it wouldn't show on the fossilized bones.

[robwalsh]

Humans: How did Megalodon hunt
Actual Megalodon: Umm..it go in my mouf

[hollyodii]

Always fascinating. Ben’s delivery, dialogue, and presentation is tops among paleontology YouTubers!

[eradict]

"I can't wait for shark week 2022."

bruh, Ben is so fed up with 2021 😂

[slicerneons]

When you get that big, you hunt however you want.

[Claudia-tmdr]

Sharks really do get such an unfair reputation for being "bloodthirsty monsters". Thanks for making this video, love your channel!

[UnwantedGhost]

Someone please make a virtual reality of the Miocene ocean showing megalodon hunting marine mammals. It'd be the closest to a time machine with a shark cage for me.

[Wth]

bro you guys are going places like fr if i was discovery or animal planet i would give you guys an unlimited budget, seriously the amount of effort you guys put into the channel is inspiring

[zerronyx]

The megalodon could have emptied a six shooter into it's prey in under 3 seconds to hunt and we would never know

[quintenwhyte]

Megalodon: "Eyes....Lungs...Pancreas! So many snacks...so little time!"

[nyeti]

Excellent video! You do a great job of demystifying these sharks without taking away any of their impressiveness. And the level of technical detail is about right for an interested layman like me.

[Vacio]

Just incase you havent already ben, hope you do a vid on helicoprion, i want to finish my palaeontology course so i can study this very unique creature

[dinodonut]

Could preservation bias explain the seeming tendency of Megalodon to target bony areas of their prey instead of soft areas? Soft tissue targeting would be much more rare in the fossil record, and it seems like megalodon attacks would be more likely to preserve if the shark happened to attack a bony area.

[rameyzamora]

Their food choices would have been dictated by what they could catch & overcome. The bigger a Meg grew the slower it would be but the larger the prey it could disable. That's what you do, I'm told, & then let the meal bleed out or drown for safe chomping. Pack hunting isn't out of the question where smaller Megs wanted to share one large cetacean. What a show that would be!

[chickadeestevenson]

I mean, technically Megalodon was a monster, in the definition that "monster" can mean REALLY REALLY big.