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Imagine teeth the size of your hand.
An open jaw
big enough to fit three people...
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Most scientists consider this animal
the largest predator that
ever existed on the planet:
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the megalodon.
And what actually happened
to the biggest shark in history?
New evidence suggests
that the great white shark,
potentially drove the
megalodon to extinction.
But how did this happen?
It can go up very slowly.
Go, go up, go up, go up! Pull!
She's going all out. That's it!
That was a good one.
We will conduct a series of tests
to try to illustrate what
it would have been like
when the megalodon
and the great white shark
faced each other.
How did this incredible
confrontation happen?
The megalodon could reach 18 meters
and weigh up to 50 tons,
then like the great white shark,
could an animal 1/3 the size compete?
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This is the megalodon
Versus great white shark.
Hey man. That was really good.
It almost sounds like
a real scientist talking.
You, galera.
Megalodon Versus Great White Shark.
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Alright guys, I got a big space.
For large jaws.
- Wow. - Wow.
Check out those teeth.
To learn more about the megalodon,
we called a shark fossil expert,
Dr. Sora Kim.
I research modern sharks
and antiquity.
What are the chances of megalodon
and the great white shark
have interacted at some point?
We know that they
existed in similar periods.
We found their teeth in the same places,
then it is very likely that they met.
It was believed for a long time that
the great white shark evolved
from the megalodon, but now,
scientists have discovered
that this is not true.
The megalodon is an
entirely different species,
three times larger and
with another lineage.
I'm sure our effects team
is creating 3D models for comparison.
Impressive.
The most incredible thing about megalodon
is that everything we know
about him comes from his teeth.
The name means "big tooth"
and the teeth are
literally the size of a hand.
Recently, megalodon teeth
revealed something incredible
to the researchers who
use a method known
as stable isotope analysis.
Stable isotope analysis
from an ancient shark tooth
you can say, approximately,
what proportions of his
diet come from different prey.
So from what I understand,
he hunted whales.
Yeah, that's what we
thought for a long time,
but we did a chemical analysis recently
in megalodon teeth
and it looks like he was eating something
that was at the top of the food chain.
So they ate other sharks.
They ate sharks.
What?
They were eating other sharks...
Do you think they ate great white sharks?
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This stunning new data indicates that
Great white sharks and megalodons interbred
and these encounters were often deadly.
It turns out the megalodon went extinct
and the great white shark is still there.
I keep wondering how a great white shark
managed to face a predator like this.
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Great white sharks are known to fight
with some of the sea's fiercest predators.
But until now, no one imagined that
they had faced the megalodon.
I can't even imagine what
it would be like to witness
these competitive interactions.
Our goal is to simulate
an animal confrontation
between a megalodon
and a great white shark.
We have, basically,
a heavyweight and a featherweight.
On one side,
a fighter with a career
spanning millions of years.
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It can reach more than 6 meters
and weigh up to 3 tons.
Who could withstand
an attack from his mouth
full of sharp teeth?
The terror of the deep.
It's him, the feared great white shark!
Oh!
But on the other side,
a champion that can be
considered the predator
fiercest that ever existed.
Over 18 meters long
and weighing an impressive 50 tons,
the prehistoric bone crusher...
the incredible and scary megalodon.
Shark versus Megalodon.
Here are the statistics.
As you can see, the megalodon
has an advantage in size,
but size isn't everything.
To simulate what would have happened
between a great white
shark and a megalodon,
we need to understand
more about predatory behavior
of the great white shark and place
it in the context of the megalodon.
I'm excited to get in the water
with real great white sharks
and try to determine what tactics they used
with a predator so large
that it tried to hunt them.
To collect data for the simulation,
Tristan and Andy go to
Stewart Island in New Zealand
the current great white
shark capital of the Pacific.
They will join the local expert
in sharks, Kina Scollay,
who knows these waters better than anyone.
New Zealand is a great place
to do this expedition because the megalodon
and the great white shark,
in fact, coexisted here,
they divided these waters.
We will conduct a series of tests
to understand more about the
attributes of the great white shark
and try to understand how
this would affect their interaction
with the megalodons.
And although it may seem that the megalodon
go dominate, great white
sharks may have an advantage:
the speed.
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First round: Speed test.
You never know, maybe the great white shark
contributed to the end of the megalodon.
If we want to see how they
would compare at the time,
we need to know the speed
of the great white shark.
It's hard to know exactly how fast
a megalodon swam, but
there are some estimates.
Scientists believe that the megalodon
it swam at 5km/h and attacked at 34km/h.
But how does this compare
to the great white shark?
We have a ladder underwater
which will give us some distance inside.
We have a bait that we
will cast to the bottom
and then pull in the hope
of getting a good read
when he attacks vertically.
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Although there is a lot of data
about the speed of the great white shark,
little is known about
its vertical movements.
Measuring the maximum
speed at the point of attack,
the team can determine
whether these smaller sharks
could escape from a megalodon.
- It'll be cool. - Yeah, then.
What could go wrong? Anything, right?
I'm going to have some tea and biscuits
- and I'll see you later. - Okay.
For this test, the team will split up.
Kina will stay on the surface
with the ladder hanging in its cage.
So, if I were a great white shark
and saw a measuring ladder,
would swim upwards as fast as possible.
Tristan and Andy will be in a cage
where they can signal to
the surface to pull the bait
and provoke a high-speed chase.
Going down, divers. Going down.
Kina? How's it going up there, buddy?
All right. I'm going down the stairs.
Using the ladder as an underwater ruler,
they can measure the
speed at which a shark passes
for each step to calculate
the maximum speed.
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Okay, let's go.
Release the bait. Let's go.
Divers, bait released.
The bait has been cast.
Okay, go down more.
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Okay, that's a good depth.
It's fine like this for tuna.
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Wow! That's a huge male.
The first shark to arrive on the scene
It is a male about 4 meters long.
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There's another one down there, Andy.
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Wow! There's a huge female down here.
I hope they run up the stairs.
She's focusing on the bait.
Come on! Come on! Pull, pull!
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- Keep pulling. - Go on, go!
Unbelievable, man.
Look at her size and how fast she is.
Uh-oh!
- Look at that! - What a huge jaw.
The team drew attention
of a giant female shark
who devoured 30 kilos
of tuna in a few bites.
Look at the size.
But even at almost six meters,
is less than 1/3 the size
of an adult megalodon.
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This female attacked that tuna with a will.
Even though the shark
did something impressive,
as he did not line up with the ladder,
the team could not calculate the speed.
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The sharks have arrived.
There are three great white sharks.
There are three around the stairs.
Baiting down now.
You can come down. Let's see if you go.
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Watch out! It's coming! It's coming!
Wow! Oh!
Careful!
- Damn! - Are you okay?
This guy is quite sociable, isn't he?
Maybe they thought this joke was funny.
I don't know if you guys
played Snakes and Ladders
when they were children,
but this is a very tense
game of Sharks and Ladders.
Dude, what is Snakes and Ladders?
They are "Stairs and Slides".
Careful there! Pay attention.
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Okay, the big female came back starving.
Okay, keep going down.
It's going well. You can
go down a little more too.
No!
The big female appeared out of nowhere!
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Come on, pull it out! Damn, she got it!
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She took the whole thing.
What madness!
Okay, it's going down again, guys.
The bait is going down.
Keep going down.
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Here it comes.
It can go up very slowly.
Go, go up, go up, go up! Damn!
He's going all out. That's
it! That's it! That's it!
That was a good one.
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Okay, keep going down.
It's going well.
In New Zealand, a team of researchers
is conducting speed
tests on great white sharks
to help them simulate a fight
between the great white
shark and the megalodon.
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That's it!
But will this great white shark
would have been faster than a megalodon?
- That worked. - It was amazing. Beautiful!
Analysis of the images reveals
the shark reaching 43km/h.
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This surpasses the megalodon
which reached 34km/h,
20% less than the great white shark.
Speed test was simply phenomenal.
One of the most exciting experiences
that I've ever had in the water.
Oh my God!
The shark looked like an airplane
taking off at full speed up the stairs.
Sharks and ladders!
- Sharks and ladders. - It's a new game.
- That's news. - That was awesome.
It was amazing to see from up here.
The sharks were huge.
The test demonstrated how vertical speed
of a great white shark could help you
to overcome the
megalodon, escaping upwards.
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So in this round, the advantage
goes to the great white shark.
Speed.
But speed alone would not be enough to
protect a great white
shark in every encounter.
Wow! That looks really cool.
- Did you like it? - I loved it.
To simulate the confrontation
between a great white
shark and a megalodon,
we need to understand
more about the role that
agility may have had in this interaction.
Agility is the measure of speed
with which an animal can apply acceleration
in different directions.
For example, how quickly they can turn.
At 18 meters, a megalodon
would have a circumference
of more than 10 meters
and although this size has more strength,
It also creates more resistance
in the water as you swim.
Based on formulas that analyze agility,
researchers estimate it
would take 30 seconds
for an 18-meter megalodon
to turn 180 degrees.
Size matters when it comes to predators.
But sometimes, the smaller,
the more agile and more effective.
This will give us a very good idea
of what it was like when
these two competed in the past.
To assess the agility
of the great white shark,
the team will use a remote-controlled bait.
Playing cat and mouse with the sharks,
they will be able to obtain
images that they will process
in special software to analyze agility.
You need to maneuver this
thing really close to the cage
so we can see the sharks coming.
And since we want to see agility,
you have to make sharp turns
as this will attract attention
and let's see who is the most agile.
It's true.
Second round: Agility test.
Throw it right in front of us,
try to keep as close as possible
- and don't let him swallow it, okay?
- Okay.
Good luck, boys.
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We're in position. Let's go.
Okay, bait.
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Bait in the water. The bait is gone.
We're seeing it. We can already see it.
All systems ready for agility testing.
Time to get cracking.
Let's take it easy. Whoa, whoa,
buddy. Whoa, wait a minute.
Do you see any sharks near the bait?
I don't see anything. The water is clear.
There are no sharks here at the moment.
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I think we can say that we are
quite bored,
but it is...
It's better than staying up there.
.Oh my God!
What happened?
A great white shark
suddenly attacks the bait.
It's a promising start to the agility test.
- Wow! - Oh my God!
We didn't even see him coming.
You better do well, Tristan.
The shark came with everything.
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There's a shark... coming.
It's getting close.
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Careful!
Ouch! Get out of here! Let go!
- I survived! - Yeah, we did it.
The shark's second attack on the bait
was exactly what they were looking for,
highlighting a sudden turn
combined with a speed boost
which demonstrates the incredible
agility of the great white shark.
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It's coming!
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5 and a half meters.
Five and a half?
I think these are the perfect sharks.
We have a wide range of sizes:
small, medium and large.
The situation is quite hectic around here.
She's watching, Tristan.
It caught her attention.
Hey, I ran away.
What madness!
The giant female completes a 90-degree turn
in three seconds, showing his skill,
but missing the bait.
There's a lot going on.
That's great.
Male coming again.
It's coming from the right.
Coming fast. Going fast.
Take the bait away!
Wow! He got it. It's over. He got it.
Oh my God!
Now go. Look there.
And now!
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There! Good!
Perfect example, have you seen it?
The little white shark took the bait
and the big one didn't make it.
The team captures another
incredible bait attack,
illustrating a quick
turn followed by a push
of speed that shows
how these large predators
can be fast.
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It is possible that this is
how the great white shark
moved, hunted and lasted
longer than the megalodon.
I've never seen a shark move like that.
The agility is surreal.
He's gone. He's gone. He's gone.
Oh my God. That was... Oh no.
You thought it was over.
Ah, he's back! He's leaving.
- Oh no! Come on.
- Come on, get it out of there.
Oh no, no. It's not working.
- It's already working. - No! What's up?
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Mayday. Mayday. A isca j era.
Okay, Kina. Let's go upstairs.
Bring it here..
Look at this.
Oh man, look how it turned out.
It's a fatal injury. God bless her.
- Yes. - Rest in peace.
Seriously, it was quite a
demonstration of agility.
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Analysis of the software revealed that
this great white shark can turn 180 degrees
in approximately three point seven seconds.
That's eight times faster
than the megalodon.
This would be a huge
advantage for a great white shark.
Against the megalodon.
Agility.
It's not a big surprise the smaller shark
be more agile, but when it
comes to causing damage,
it all depends on the teeth.
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Researchers estimate that megalodon
could open the jaw wide enough to
swallow an adult great
white shark in one bite.
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How the Great White Shark Compares
and is his bite big enough
to cause harm to the megalodon?
- That's what we're going to test now.
- Third round:
Jaw opening test.
Get an accurate measurement of the opening
from the mouth of the great
white shark is extremely dangerous,
but the team has an
ace up their sleeve: lasers.
Deep.
You have to turn on the lasers.
Oh there.
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These lasers will be two meters away.
The idea is to capture two
main points in the shark's mouth
and, ideally, be able to extrapolate
the bite size of the great white shark.
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With underwater measuring equipment
and on the surface, the team will use bait
to attract sharks closer
and provoke them to open their jaws wide.
Surface, you can play the first tuna.
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Ah, it's pretty quiet
here on my side, over.
Oh!
A big shark came out of nowhere.
We have a good sized female down here.
- And there's one more, Andy.
- She's going all out.
She's right on top.
Oh!
Okay. The first female stole the bait.
And we couldn't capture
anything, so let's go again.
- Over. - Okay. Understood, Andy.
These sharks are much smarter
than people think.
Bait coming down.
Come on, girl. It's time to come play.
It's coming!
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There's one more.
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- Wow, look at that! - Three sharks.
There are three.
Two meters, two and a
half, and five and a half.
Several great white sharks
were interested in the team's bait,
but they need to draw
them closer to the cameras
for more accurate measurement.
There are sharks everywhere!
I can't believe it, man!
Uh-oh!
The sharks are very interested.
Damn! Uh-rull!
Oh! She must be happy.
The team records the
first accurate measurement.
Approximately 76 centimeters
from the lower to the upper tooth,
but against the massive
flank of a megalodon,
that would do no more than a scratch.
Uh!
With a measurement obtained,
but several sharks swimming nearby,
the team throws more bait to try again.
Careful!
Oh!
She's trying to get in here.
They're getting pretty skittish.
Here it goes!
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Here it goes!
That was a good one.
Hey! Uh! Easy there, buddy.
This is exactly what we needed.
This measurement revealed a bite
60 centimeters from the
lower to the upper tooth.
He smiled right in front of the cameras.
As impressive as the mouth
of the great white shark
may be, 60 centimeters
it wouldn't be enough to
cause any serious damage
to the enormous girth and
thick skin of a megalodon.
But there is still a five and a
half meter female in the area
that they did not measure.
It's a big shark.
- It's a big bait. - Okay, guys.
- Let's release the last tuna.
- Okay, understood.
It's the last tuna.
She's going up.
Wow, she showed us her teeth.
The Great White Shark Opening
reaches an impressive 82.8 centimeters,
almost the same width as most doors.
Aligned with the flank of a megalodon,
would be enough to cause serious damage,
if not lethal,
especially in the thinner
skin around the gills.
Jaw opening test: mission accomplished.
Very good, guys.
Wow. Very good, man.
That's it, guys. Well done.
Man, that was exciting.
That female came several
times, teeth like razors,
the mouth wide open, the laser
caught the opening perfectly.
Yes, we managed to do the test
and a huge great white shark.
Seriously, great white
sharks aren't usually
much larger than that female.
Several times, we managed to catch
mouth wide open.
You must have gotten some good images here.
I don't want to say I got the best image
because you are professional
underwater cameramen,
but I think I got the best picture.
It actually looks almost as good as mine.
No, seriously man, it was an amazing move.
See them coming at you with everything.
Seriously, if we imagine a megalodon
and a great white shark, and a megalodon
trying to catch a shark,
it will try to defend itself.
Here we have a 5.5 meter great white shark
with a huge mouth.
I hope this gives us
some sense of whether...
a great white shark
as big as that could hurt
or would be able to stop a huge megalodon.
I don't know.
Well, I think even with an opening
just like that female...
anyway, she's huge,
her mouth was wide open, but we're talking
the absurd size of a megalodon.
I don't know, maybe if
they attacked the gills.
Well, yes. If I were a great white shark,
exactly what I would attack
in the megalodon: the gills.
Although the team's results
prove that a great white shark could bite
a megalodon, he would
have to hit it exactly
the fins or the sensitive gills.
When we put this in contrast
with the capacity of the megalodon
of catching a great white
shark with a single bite,
It is clear who has the
advantage in this comparison.
Jaw opening.
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And now that we've
done the other three tests,
the sharks are still here around the boat
and let's move on to the
last piece of the puzzle,
the dominance test.
Fourth round: Dominance test.
And for that, we planned something special.
- Oh! - Oh my goodness. Look.
, that's a lot of tuna.
That's a lot of tuna. 230 kilos.
- Oh, man. - Okay, guys.
Dominance test, sunset, let's go.
Dominance is a measure of power
and influence over others.
Based on newly discovered evidence
that megalodons hunted great white sharks,
researchers know that megalodon
dominated the sharks.
But do smaller sharks
challenge larger ones?
That's what the team wants to find out
and they plan to do this at sunset,
when great white sharks
are most aggressive.
- Did you catch it? - Hey!
To analyze dominance behavior,
the team uses a 190-liter
drum of frozen fish.
Now things are going to get serious.
Give it a lick, man,
taste it to see if it's real.
Okay, I'll lick it.
It's very good. Let's go, guys.
For this test, the plan
is to use two cages.
Let's get into the water.
Kina will be in a cage floating six meters
behind the boat, while Tristan and Andy
will position themselves right
in front of the bait popsicle.
Some of the craziest dives I've ever done
were here in New Zealand
and they went at night.
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Tristan and Andy just got into the water.
Okay, surface, let the bait go down.
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Okay, guys. Time to see how these
small sharks interact with large ones.
This is the dominance test.
This is scary.
I'm seeing sharks appearing in the light
and then disappearing.
- Here it comes! - It's a male shark.
And there's another one. A small male.
Three sharks around now. Uh!
It was the situation the
team hoped to create.
With small and large
white sharks in the area
competing for food, the team can observe
how the little ones
behave around the big ones.
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He attacked me! He attacked me!
A shark just attacked Kina's cage.
I'm fine. Everything's fine.
Oh no. Look out! Here he comes.
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Wow, look at that, man. He's destroying it.
It's k*lling it. Damn!
The first shark to attack the bait
it's only three and a half meters long,
not even close to the
biggest shark in the area,
indicating that when it
comes to competing for food,
he is not afraid of the
bigger sharks nearby.
Oh! Things are heating up here.
This is awesome!
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A great white shark the size of
an airplane crashed into the cage.
It's a huge male.
It's a huge animal. It's gigantic.
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This is amazing! Wow!
Bait is going everywhere.
This male is dominating.
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Oh!
Wow. A shark bit the cage.
A team of researchers
is using a 230kg bait to try to make
smaller sharks challenge the larger ones.
Here it comes! Watch out!
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It's a huge male.
Now, a huge great white shark
is showing that size can change the game.
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No sign of the big male,
but he's around here. Be careful, people.
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Hey, that little guy looks
like he's getting ready.
Go on, buddy!
Ah, here he comes.
This little guy wants to eat.
He's going up.
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Damn!
The big male is back.
After a smaller shark
tries to eat the bait,
the larger male returns
and asserts his dominance.
He's in charge.
All the other sharks retreated.
Using its size advantage,
this frenzy is an example
of how larger sharks
dominate the smaller ones
in the competition for food.
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Damn, he destroyed the bait.
230 kilos of bait reduced to crumbs.
Wow!
I don't see anything now.
There's bait everywhere.
I think it's time to wrap up.
Let's go to the surface.
Uh-oh!
Damn.
That was unbelievable, man.
Craziness.
Great white sharks at night. Awesome!
- Surreal. - Yeah.
Dude, great white sharks at night.
- That was awesome, bro. - Yeah.
Like, the speed, the strength, the agility,
Everything fell into
place, man. Everything!
Yeah, it was awesome.
I'm even shaking.
There's a lot going on, a lot of action.
Man, that big male,
his genitals, bro.
Seriously, it was right
in front of my face.
- Yes. - Oh, the big male?
The big male definitely had the attitude
more aggressive tonight
and it was clear to us
like, right in our faces, multiple times.
Totally. He was very aggressive.
He came up and bit the cage.
He bit your cage.
He was sticking his teeth
into everything down there.
He took pieces. He went back and forth,
pushing the other sharks out of the way.
The bigger the better. The
megalodon would have dominated.
We need to incorporate
this into the simulation
what a fight between a
megalodon would be like
and a great white shark.
We have results from all four tests
and we can combine them
all, send them to the lab,
ask the effects guys to
create an amazing simulation
to try to see what a real
confrontation would be like
between a great white
shark and a megalodon.
This test proves that smaller sharks
they even compete for food,
but the big, dominant sharks get it all.
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The megalodon would have a clear advantage
due to its size,
intimidating any smaller opponent.
He would have dominated the food court.
In the battle for dominance, megalodon...
Dominance.
Has the advantage.
Comparing the results of the four tests,
we are going to simulate
an animal confrontation
between a megalodon
and a great white shark.
Researchers share what they discovered
with a special effects team
which will illustrate what this
epic battle would have been like.
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Imagine a whale carcass
spreads blood and oil across the sea.
Two great white sharks sniffed the odor.
With a 90cm bite,
their jaws tear off chunks of meat and fat.
But they are not alone...
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The megalodon imposes its dominance,
but the great whites will
not give up without a fight.
The megalodon chases the attackers,
but the great white shark
uses its agility and speed
to go to a deeper canyon.
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The smaller fighter dodges
the big guy once again.
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The second great white
shark attacks the megalodon,
hitting your Achilles heel,
the thin layer of gills
that protect some of your arteries.
For the great white shark,
the area appears to be clear.
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The size and dominance of megalodon
neutralize the agility and
speed of the great white shark.
In the battle for supremacy of the seas,
the megalodon comes out victorious.
Thought-provoking music
Although the megalodon won the battle,
the victory was short-lived.
The great white shark won the w*r.
Animals need to adapt
to be able to survive and for a megalodon
to maintain its size, it
would need to eat a lot
and he competed with
the great white sharks.
A smaller animal needs
less prey to survive.
There are many other factors that
must have driven the
megalodon to extinction.
However, it is likely
that the great white shark
put the megalodon in the history books.
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Did you know that you can remove censorship board-wide, use our advanced search functions, be notified when new content is posted, join our memberships, set episodes to show in any order you want & more if you are logged into your account?
Register or sign in here: ucp.php?mode=register