Who is the winner in a Fight Between these two legendary monsters?
Extinct millions of years ago, the Megladon is known for being one of the biggest cold blooded fish in history and the largest shark ever recorded.
Its scientific name, Carcharocles megalodon, means “giant tooth.” And for a good reason: Its massive teeth give scientists significant clues about what the creature was like and when it died off.
Killer whales hunt and kill other whales in the ocean and they are one of the most feared fish in modern history. They are brutal as group hunting packs and coordinate to take down much larger prey.
However, in the modern world, Killer whales have an easy existence.
12 million years ago, modern predators like whales that existed near the coast of Peru were not the most prominent predators and were hunted by fish much more significant than themselves. Back then, they were prey. Prey to the formidable and unimaginatively giant Leviathan, a recently discovered species.
Size and Body Description
There is no doubt that the Megalodon was an enormous creature, but perhaps not as big as you may imagine.
The Scientific community has had many arguments about the actual size of the animal.
Based on the size of the teeth alone, there are theories that the size was around 60 feet long as an adult, while others believe 80 feet. Even still, others in the scientific community state it was much smaller. However, all are theories at this stage, as there is no actual proof supporting any of these arguments.
The biggest Megalodon tooth ever found was three times larger than those of the great white sharks, measuring a massive 7 inches longer.
The huge tooth size leads to many myths from the ancient people about the creatures’ origins.
Research shows that the larger, more savage prehistoric Leviathan was the predator of the smaller whales during the prime of its existence some 12 to 13 million years ago.
Fossils that have been discovered in Peru show that the ancient gigantic sperm whale had a size larger than a school bus measuring a monstrous 43 feet to close to 59 feet. The skull of this creature alone was almost 10 feet long.
They also had 14-inch-long teeth, similar in size to an elephant tusk, this helps them rip and tear off flesh from the prey. In contrast, the sperm whales of today do not have teeth in their upper jaw that are functional, instead, they rely on suction to devour the giant squid.
Basing their theories on the size of teeth, robustness of jaws, and size of the temporal fossa, the bite of the Leviathan is said to have been powerful and deadly, most likely able to tear chunks of meat from its meal, similar the modern killer whales.
In fact, the specimen, named Leviathan, had the largest known bite of any vertebrate creature with four limbs.
Diet
There was no creature above the Megladon on the food chain.
Scientists believe that its prey were other large marine animals like dolphins and whales, possibly even other sharks.
The Megladon would likely attempt to disable their prey by attacking the tails and flippers of the animal to prevent any form of escape. Once incapacitated, the Megalodon would then go in for the kill. This prevented a long and exhausting chase.
Armed with up to 276 deadly serrated teeth, the Megalodon possessed a deadly arsenal in their mouth alone, perfect for ripping the flesh from their prey.
These giant sharks’ bite forces are believed to have been phenomenal.
While we humans have an average bite force of around 1,317 newtons, researchers have estimated that the Megalodon had a bone-crushing bite force of between 108,514 and 182,201 newtons.
Being such a large animal and at the top of the food chain, there is no doubt that the Leviathan must have eaten tonnes of food.
While the modern-day sperm whales mainly eat squid, the Leviathan used its fearsome teeth to kill its kind and dine on giant baleen whales.
During their time in prehistory, the Baleen whales evolved and became much larger and grew in numbers to become the more common animal in the habitat the Leviathan preferred to live in.
At the same time in history, the mighty Megalodon, the largest shark in history, also appeared in that same part of the world. This is probably not a coincidence.
For a brief period, the habitat and territory of these two humongous predators overlapped during the Mid-Miocene Epoch. Then, by accident or purposely, they strayed into each other’s living areas and inevitably would have had interaction.
Who would win in a fight between the Gigantic Leviathan and Huge Megalodon?
Let’s take a look at the Leviathan first.
Leviathan Advantages
The Leviathan had two significant advantages, apart from its almost bulk and size.
First, possessing the longest identified teeth among any animal that has ever existed. These killer assets were much larger than the Megalodon, being thicker and longer than any shark.
The Leviathan also had the advantage of being a mammal, meaning it presumed its brain was much larger than any other fish in the seas. As a result, it would have been able to think quicker and more innovative in close-contact battles.
Leviathan Disadvantages
Being a sizeable bulky animal has its advantages and disadvantages. The sheer bulk of the Levithan may have been a means of intimidating any predators. However, the extra real estate of tasty warm flesh would also have been very appealing, especially to a hungry and fierce Megalodon.
While blessed with bulk and strength, the size and shape of the whales meant that a quick and sleek getaway would have been impossible. Furthermore, it is assumed due to it’s size that it was the top predator of the ocean, so the instinct to flee would presumably not exist. So stumbling upon a Megalodon would probably not have woken a prey instinct for a Leviathan, which until that moment, had no predators.
Not Lets take a look at the Megalodon.
Megalodon Advantages
Imagine the biggest shark that currently exists, then times that size by ten, and you have the fearsome killer, the mighty Megalodon.
Some scientists believed in theories that the Megalodon possessed the most powerful bite of any animal that has ever existed. The hypothesis is that is used had an unusual skill for brutally biting off the fins of their prey before going in for the kill. As a result, the unfortunate animal would be unable to move, fight back, or flee thus rendered inactive.
Megalodon Disadvantages
Although the Megalodon’s teeth were about seven inches long and fully grown they were nowhere near as big as a Leviathan’s teeth, which were more than foot-long teeth.
Furthermore, as a cold-blooded shark, rather than a mammal, the shark had a smaller brain, which produced instinctual and primitive thinking. Although naturally calculated, the shark was less likely to be able to build a strategy and would act on absolute instinct.
Fight Outcome!
let’s imagine a hungry Leviathan and a hungry Megalodon suddenly found themselves head to head in the deep and dark waters off the coast of Peru.
It certainly would have been an intimidating sight to see, racing towards each other, accelerating and colliding with the force of two freight trains.
The faster, sleeker, and bulging muscles of the Megalodon would swing and wriggle around the Leviathan while taking large yard long chunks of flesh from its vulnerable fins and tail. This, however, would not be enough to kill the Leviathan.
Although initially taken by surprise and appearing to be already beaten, the warm-blooded Leviathan’s much larger and functional brain would formulate a plan and trajectory and could wheel around suddenly and charge with its mouth open and the massive trunk-like powerful teeth exposed, ready to crush…..
I believe the winner is the larger-brained Leviathan!
Although the Megalodon would have taken quite a few large chunks from the Leviathan, it wouldn’t be enough to properly disable or even come close to killing the enormous beast. As a result, the Megalodon is unable to find another strategy and predictably stays to its original instincts. The primitive brain of the Megalodon, which previously had no predator, would not allow it to retreat, giving the injured and bleeding Levithan time to think and chomp down ferociously on the spine of the Megalodon, rendering it as useless as a stunned giant squid.
Even though it would continue to bleed profusely from the wound of great size the Megalodon inflicted, the Leviathan would eat its megalodon meal and devour its opponent. The size of the meal would be enough to satisfy it for three or four days, giving it sufficient food and rest time to heal and hunt another day.