The great white shark is used to being the Goliath rather than the David in most marine battles, but scientists have found that it was once the plucky contender in a fight for survival, helping to drive a much larger beast to extinction.
Megalodons were the top predators in the ocean between 23 million years ago and their extinction 3.6 million years ago. Known as “megatooth” sharks, they could grow as large as 20 metres in length, more than three times the size of the largest great whites today, which reach about 6 metres.
The first great whites appeared about 400,000 years before the giant megalodon disappeared, leading scientists to wonder whether they helped to drive the megalodon to extinction.
Researchers have analysed minerals in
