Month: November 2022

Megalodon, extinct giant shark, started life in nurseries

The largest sharks ever seem to have left their young in an unsupervised daycare.

A great white shark.

Enlarge / A great white shark. (credit: wildestanimal / Getty Images)

Gigantic extinct sharks have something to tell us from millions of years ago, and paleontologists are only just beginning to unravel that message. In a series of firsts, paleontologists have identified a growing number of paleo-nurseries, ancient sanctuaries where young sharks may have been born and where they grew until they were big enough to survive on their own in the larger sea. It’s a strategy some sharks continue to employ today, meaning it has been a successful evolutionary tactic for at least 23 million years.

The most abundant remnants we have of these apex predators are the teeth they shed over their lifetime. Cartilage, the major component of internal shark structure, doesn’t tend to survive fossilization. Given the considerable dearth of fossils, how can paleontologists ascertain the types and ages of extinct sharks? And how are paleontologists able to determine the site of a paleo-nursery from tens of millions of years ago in areas that are no longer underwater?

Answers with teeth

The answers lie with fossil teeth, from which paleontologists can determine species and estimate sizes—and, remarkably, the temperature and salinity of the water where the sharks lived. Although scientists aren’t yet able to establish the precise age of a shark from a fossil tooth, they can narrow it down to whether the shark was a neonate, juvenile, or adult, according to Matthew Gibson, the natural history curator at The Charleston Museum.

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Megalodon, extinct giant shark, started life in nurseries

The largest sharks ever seem to have left their young in an unsupervised daycare.

A great white shark.

Enlarge / A great white shark. (credit: wildestanimal / Getty Images)

Gigantic extinct sharks have something to tell us from millions of years ago, and paleontologists are only just beginning to unravel that message. In a series of firsts, paleontologists have identified a growing number of paleo-nurseries, ancient sanctuaries where young sharks may have been born and where they grew until they were big enough to survive on their own in the larger sea. It’s a strategy some sharks continue to employ today, meaning it has been a successful evolutionary tactic for at least 23 million years.

The most abundant remnants we have of these apex predators are the teeth they shed over their lifetime. Cartilage, the major component of internal shark structure, doesn’t tend to survive fossilization. Given the considerable dearth of fossils, how can paleontologists ascertain the types and ages of extinct sharks? And how are paleontologists able to determine the site of a paleo-nursery from tens of millions of years ago in areas that are no longer underwater?

Answers with teeth

The answers lie with fossil teeth, from which paleontologists can determine species and estimate sizes—and, remarkably, the temperature and salinity of the water where the sharks lived. Although scientists aren’t yet able to establish the precise age of a shark from a fossil tooth, they can narrow it down to whether the shark was a neonate, juvenile, or adult, according to Matthew Gibson, the natural history curator at The Charleston Museum.

Read 27 remaining paragraphs | Comments

In eigener Sache: IT-Security neu denken

Praxisorientierte Blitzvorträge und Deep Dives zu spannenden IT-Themen, Jobangebote und die Cyberagentur im Gespräch – das und mehr bieten die TECH TALKS am 9. November. (Tech Talks, Arbeit)

Praxisorientierte Blitzvorträge und Deep Dives zu spannenden IT-Themen, Jobangebote und die Cyberagentur im Gespräch - das und mehr bieten die TECH TALKS am 9. November. (Tech Talks, Arbeit)

Xeon Platinum im Test: Intels Top-Prozessoren sind abgehängt

Intels Server-CPUs können aktuell nicht mithalten. Das zeigt unser Test des Xeon Platinum 8380, der auch die Herausforderungen zweier Prozessoren aufzeigt. Ein Test von Johannes Hiltscher (Test, Prozessor)

Intels Server-CPUs können aktuell nicht mithalten. Das zeigt unser Test des Xeon Platinum 8380, der auch die Herausforderungen zweier Prozessoren aufzeigt. Ein Test von Johannes Hiltscher (Test, Prozessor)

(g+) Physik: Eine Quanten-Stoppuhr misst die Zeit wie keine Uhr zuvor

Mit Femtosekundenlasern, Rydberg-Atomen und etwas Quantenphysik kann eine Stoppuhr für extrem schnelle Vorgänge in der Chemie gebaut werden. Von Frank Wunderlich-Pfeiffer (Quantenphysik, Internet)

Mit Femtosekundenlasern, Rydberg-Atomen und etwas Quantenphysik kann eine Stoppuhr für extrem schnelle Vorgänge in der Chemie gebaut werden. Von Frank Wunderlich-Pfeiffer (Quantenphysik, Internet)