Tyrannosaurus rex and Megalodon didn’t dwell on the similar time, and much more, one lived on land and the opposite within the ocean. However nonetheless, they each dominated their ecosystems on the very high of the meals chain. However who was the fiercest of all of them?
To reply this query, it’s finest to interrupt down every mega-hunter. Which one was the largest, quickest, strongest, and which one survived and thrived the longest earlier than it went extinct?
The Worlds of T. rex and Megalodon
First, let’s take a look at the worlds by which each species lived and thrived. T. rex lived in the course of the Cretaceous Interval between 66 million years and 68 million years in the past within the western U.S., in locations like present-day Wyoming and Montana.
On the time, its world wasn’t almost as dry and arid as it’s right this moment. The atmosphere was subtropical, just like the Gulf Shore of Louisiana. T. rex undoubtedly dominated its environs, noshing on all the pieces it may get its claws on, from smaller dinosaurs to crocodiles and even some mammals. This beast ate flesh however may additionally chew via bone.
Megalodon, alternatively, lived a lot later. It was the biggest fish (not whale) to ever swim the seas, and it lived from round 23 million years to three.6 million years in the past, in the course of the Miocene and Pliocene epochs. Just like T. rex, it ate nearly all the pieces that it may catch, from giant marine mammals to fish. And it thrived in almost all of the world’s oceans minus these within the polar areas.
Learn Extra: Nearly 2 Billion T. Rexes As soon as Stomped the Earth
(Credit score: Oliver Denker/Shutterstock)
Evaluating the Measurement of Megalodon and T. rex
When these two beasts go face to face, issues aren’t precisely even, says Scott Individuals, an assistant professor of paleontology on the Faculty of Charleston in Charleston, South Carolina. For starters, there was an enormous distinction between the 2 species when it comes to dimension.
There’s a variety of controversy about Megalodon dimension as a result of almost all of our data concerning dimension comes from its tooth since its physique is almost unimaginable to come back by.
“Megalodon is fabricated from cartilage and doesn’t have very excessive preservation potential, so its odds of entering into the fossil document are very low,” says Individuals.
However its tooth can inform us rather a lot about its potential dimension. And since it sheds so many, we now have a number of them. Researchers are considerably assured in saying that it reached about 65 toes in size, across the size of a tractor-trailer.
That’s a lot bigger than that of T. rex, which was round 40 toes. Though T. rex was smaller, it’s additionally vital to think about that whales and sharks will be a lot bigger as a result of the buoyancy of water holds them up and defies gravity.
The following vital level is to notice its looking prowess, which mega-hunter had the strongest chew power.
“The chew power of Megalodon is someplace within the neighborhood of 30,000 kilos of power,” says Individuals. “T. rex maxes out far decrease with 12,000-8,000 kilos of power.” Nonetheless, in both case, you wouldn’t wish to be on the receiving finish of that chew.
Learn Extra: What Is a Megalodon? Details About One of many Largest Sharks in Historical past
How Quick Had been These Mega Predators?
Velocity is harder to get at, and, in actual fact, there’s been an extended historical past of debate round how briskly these creatures actually had been. Megalodon has to cope with the bodily resistance of water, which clearly places it at a extreme drawback in comparison with a predator that runs on land. Taking this into consideration, most estimations put this big shark’s swimming pace at round 11 mph.
The talk round T. rex has been intense as a result of it’s tough to know for certain. Most paleontologists will say that it wasn’t able to working due to its sheer dimension and the truth that it moved about on simply two toes. However Individuals is of the camp that believes T. rex was certainly a runner.
“It simply appears unbelievable {that a} huge predator can be incapable of sprinting,” says Individuals. “I’m snug saying it may run round 25 mph.”
In the long run, each of those dominant species dominated their worlds. They had been each fierce mega-hunters. T. rex was smaller and quicker with a much-reduced chew power. However not like Megalodon, it was hardly responsible for its extinction — an asteroid takes the cake for that. Megalodon was greater and slower with an enormous chew power, and its extinction couldn’t be blamed on one thing otherworldly as a result of, in the long run, it was probably outcompeted by different marine predators.
Learn Extra: 6 Historical Mega-Predators that As soon as Dominated the World
Article Sources
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Sara Novak is a science journalist based mostly in South Carolina. Along with writing for Uncover, her work seems in Scientific American, Common Science, New Scientist, Sierra Journal, Astronomy Journal, and plenty of extra. She graduated with a bachelor’s diploma in Journalism from the Grady Faculty of Journalism on the College of Georgia. She’s additionally a candidate for a grasp’s diploma in science writing from Johns Hopkins College, (anticipated commencement 2023).