Megalodon was the biggest shark that ever lived. Estimates from its teeth put it at around 50 to 60 feet long - three times the length of a modern great white. Its bite force is calculated at around 40,000 pounds, the strongest of any animal in history. It hunted whales for breakfast.
Most of what we know about Megalodon comes from its teeth, which were the size of dinner plates and survived fossilization extremely well. People have been finding them on beaches and in old riverbeds for thousands of years - though it took a long time before anyone realized they were shark teeth and not, say, fossilized lightning bolts.
The strange thing is, we’ve never found a complete Megalodon skeleton. Like most sharks today, its skeleton was made of cartilage instead of bone, so it dissolved and washed away. Only the teeth and the occasional rare vertebra survived. We have the bite, but not the body.
