Scientists Discover Extinct
Giant Shark Nursery In Panama
PANAMA - An extinct giant shark nursery has
been discovered in Panama. The six-foot-long
babies of the world's biggest shark species,
Carcharocles megalodon, frolicked in the
warm shallow waters of an ancient shark
nursery in what is now Panama, report
paleontologists working at the Smithsonian
Tropical Research Institute and the
University of Florida.
Catalina Pimiento, visiting scientist at
STRI and graduate student at the University
of Florida, said: "Adult giant sharks, at
60-70 feet in length, faced few predators,
but young sharks faced predation from larger
sharks. As in several modern shark species,
juvenile giant sharks probably spent this
vulnerable stage of their lives in shallow
water where food was plentiful and large
predators had difficulty maneuvering."
Paleontologists from the Smithsonian and the
University of Florida collected more than
400 fossil shark teeth from Panama4s
10-million-year-old Gatun Formation as part
of ongoing work to reveal the origins of
this narrow land-bridge that rose to connect
North and South America about 3 million
years ago.
Pimiento added: "The 28 teeth that we
identified as C. megalodon were mostly from
neonates and juveniles."
Researchers used reference collections at
the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural
History and the Florida Museum of Natural
History to characterize the teeth.
STRI staff scientist Carlos Jaramillo, who
heads the Canal excavation project, said:
"Very little is known about the life cycle
of this giant shark that ruled the oceans
not so long ago. Now we think that the young
spent their first years close to the coast
among mangroves."
The team discarded several other
explanations for the concentration of small
teeth at the site. Before their discovery in
Panama, two other fossil beds have been
proposed as paleo-shark nurseries: the
Williamsburg Formation from the Paleocene
and the Oligocene Chandler Bridge Formation,
both in the U.S. state of South Carolina.
The sandy soils of the Gatun Formation have
been used for years to make cement. Soon
these outcrops will be exhausted. Scientists
continue to race against the clock to find
out more about the ancient inhabitants of
the region. (ANI) |
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