Is The Megalodon Shark Alive Today? NO, and Here's Why: Fossilguy.com
New regulations are being proposed that will end nearly all amateur collecting of fossils on public land.
The Amateur and Professional Paleontology community is small. We all need to be heard.
This link shows you how you can CONSTRUCTIVELY comment on these proposed regulations to  the BLM and BOR before the February 6th deadline.
Is the Megalodon Shark Alive Today? The Answer is a Resounding NO!
This article is intended to give you the real science behind the megalodon extinction and why they are not alive today.  First, let's look at the origins of why many people  think megalodon is alive...
The Discovery Channel Fictional Shark Week Documentaries:
2013 "Megalodon - The Monster Shark Lives," the 2014 Shark Week; "Megalodon: The New Evidence," and  "Shark of Darkness: Wrath of Submarine," and other 'Sea Monster' Mocumentaries that air on the Discovery Channel and Animal Planet.
This is a real reconstruction of the extinct megalodon
It's on display at the Calvert Marine Musuem.
I've seen a surge in people looking for megalodon information. This website has a very nice Megalodon  information page . It has everything you wanted to know about the giant megalodon, and it's cited with actual scientific journal articles.  Unfortunately people are not searching for megalodon facts, they are searching for "is megalodon alive,"  "megalodon on google earth," "megalodon  attack boat," etc... They are looking for the evidence presented on the popular discovery channel fake documentaries about megalodons.   These fictional documentaries, meant to mislead the public, include the 2013 "Megalodon - The Monster Shark Lives," the 2014 Shark Week sequel,  " Megalodon: The New Evidence
,"  the " Shark of Darkness: Wrath of Submarine
," "Voodoo Shark," and others.  What many unsuspecting people do not realize is the discovery channel megalodon shows are meant to misguide the public, they are completely fabricated.  They were used for entertainment purposes and to create a surge of ratings. Very quick disclaimers flash on the shows saying they are "dramatized".
The documentaries are meant to be a work of fiction.  They make nice monster movies.  However, since they are presented on a channel formerly known for science programming,  many people think they are real. For the Shark Week Fake Documentaries, some of the fake evidence shown includes:
The "marine biologists" that gave their "expert" opinions on the shows are not real people; they do not exist.  For example, the fictional biologist Collin Drake is played by the actor Darron Meyer, and Madelyn Joubert is played by the actress Juliana Venter. Even the "witnesses" on the shows are actors and actresses.
Unfortunately some of the shows include real scientists. These scientists, such as Jonathan Davis shown on "Voodoo Sharks",  say they were mislead during the interviews.   He says unrelated questions he answered were edited together.
Kristine Stump from The Shedd Aquarium of Florida says something similar about the mokumentary  "Monster Hammerhead."  She said the producers wanted updates on hammerhead shark research, and the  "Monster Hammerhead" film doesn't match what they filmed. This unethical interview practice that duped many scientists is downright dangerous to the scientific community.
The whale with its tail bitten off in Hawaii in 2009. The images are nothing more than CGI.  The whale photo and video never existed.
The "declassified" U-Boat image from 1942 showing a giant fin and tail in the background is fake.  This photo was created for the show. The fictional  scientist says the shark may have been up to 100 feet long, which is actually twice as long as the estimated maximum size for a megalodon!  It must have been Godzillodon.
The people fishing near Cape Town who's boat was attacked by a megalodon and died in April of 2013 never existed.  It was never on the news and there was never a diving crew.  This is a completely fabricated story complete with actors as the crew and news castors.
Since these fictional documentaries,  where science was removed and  fiction was inserted are fairly popular. Many people now believe in bizarre shark and sea monster tales, including that megalodon  is still alive.  The answer to the megalodon question is a resounding NO. Megaldon went extinct around 2.6 million years ago.   Here are the complete reasons why...
A Real Documentary
Although the Discovery documentaries on megalodons are entirely fictional, there is a real documentary about the megalodon that's much more accurate and educational.   It was produced by National Geographic. It's called Prehistoric Predators: Monster Shark
.  This movie is lesser known but MUCH more accurate.  I highly recommend it if you are seeking the truth about Megalodon.
The Real Evidence of Megalodons Existence
So, what's the real evidence that megalodon is still alive? There is none. I'm not being biased here.  There is NO scientific evidence that  supports the existence of a living megalodon or monster "submarine" shark. Let's look at the confused evidence  used to support megalodon existence today:
Recent Reports of the "HUGE 9 foot Great White being eaten whole by an Unknown Super Predator"
This engraved image from the October 24th, 1868
edition of Harpery Weekly titled
"The Wonderful Fish, Caught Near Eastport, Maine, Aug. 3, 1868"
shows a creature washed ashore.
It is most likely a basking shark with artistic touches (nice legs!).
This work is public domain (PD-1923) in the U.S.
A research team in Australia tagging Great White sharks found one of their tracking devices washed up on shore 4 months after tagging it onto a Great White.  When analyzing the data in June, they found a temperature rise and a sudden 1,900 foot drop in depth.  The only logical explanation was the shark was eaten by something, and the tracking device was in the  predators digestive track.  This part is true.  Unfortunately, headlines circling the internet are incredibly skewed.  The mention a "Huge" 9 foot Great White, a "mystery sea monster", a new "super predator", etc...  People reading these misleading headlines and biased stories can easily come to the assumption that a giant Megalodon shark ate the Great White.
However, if one looks at the science, there is a much more clear and logical explanation. A larger Great White ate the Great White.  The researchers even say this, unfortunately, most of the internet articles stop before mentioning this.  The researchers say larger Great Whites moved into the area at that time, and that a 16 foot Great White could have easily eaten the smaller 9 foot great white (a 9 foot Great White is not "Huge" as many articles embellish).
So, what's more logical, an unknown super predator, such as a giant Megalodon eating small Great White sharks, or a larger Great White shark eating a smaller one?  Yes, larger sharks do eat smaller sharks.
To learn about Great Whites, here is the Great White Shark Gallery .
Videos and pictures of giant dead sharks washing ashore, or seen swimming near a boats and/or people. These must be megalodons.
This amazing photo is of a Basking shark swimming near a beachgoer.
Basking sharks can easily be misidentified as a megalodon by people
with overactive imaginations. Image courtesy of candiche .
Yes, these videos and images do exist. Most of them appear real. The reason why is because there are large sharks, similar in size to what megalodon was, that exist today. 60 feet is stretching it for a maximum size of a megalodon.  They were probably closer to the 50 foot mark  (see the Megalodon Page for cited size information).  Other large sharks that reach simlar sizes exist today. Two of these sharks are the Whale shark and the Basking Shark.
Whale sharks can reach lengths of around 40 feet, which is similar to a Megalodon.  However, they have a distinctive appearance.  They have a wide and flat appearance. They are black with white spots on them.  They look very distinctive, and are usually not confused with a "living" megalodon roaming the seas.
However, the other large shark, the basking shark, can and has been mistaken for giant prehistoric beasts.  These GIANT, yet hermless, creatures can grow to almost the same size as a megalodon. A notable example is seen in the October 24, 1868 Harper's Weekly Newspaper, which shows a basking shark with an artistic marlin sail and legs!.
This is a photo of a Whale Shak from my Galapagos Dive Trip,
Whale sharks are Huge creatures, Whale Sharks are another
example of an  shark approaching a similar size to the megalodon.
Basking sharks are endangered sharks that inhabit coastal waters and feed on plankton. These docile sharks are GIANT.  They can grow up to 40 feet, which is similar in size to an adult megalodon. On the rare occasion when these beautiful  creatures are spotted by beachgoers, they can easily be confused with a megalodon by someone with an overactive imagination.  Just because a GIANT shark is sighted, it doesn't mean it's a prehistoric megalodon, it could very well be one of these  amazing basking sharks.
If a megalodon body did wash ashore, or one was videotaped or photographed swimming around, it would make instant global  news and not just news in the dark and deep conspiracy annals of youtube.
Recent megalodon teeth being found - aka New Caledonia teeth
This is a New Caledonian Megalodon tooth.
By valid dating methods, it is firmly
dated to be Miocene in age.
This is a popular piece of evidence used. However, there have NEVER been any recent megalodon teeth found. The most recent ones are  still over 2 million years old. The evidence of recent megalodon teeth being found started in the 1950's. Megalodon teeth were found in the south pacific from dredging along deep slopes of a fringing reef around New Caledonia.
They were discovered in the late 50's by locals dredging the seafloor 1000 feet below. The enamel on many of these teeth are leeched  such that a white color is left, making them slightly resemble a recent tooth. During the 1950's age dating was not as accurate as  today. The type of age dating done was Manganese dioxide dating. The Manganese dioxide dating gave an age range of the sampled teeth  to be between 11,000 and 24,000 years old. This means megalodon must have survived extinction.
This type of manganese dioxide dating is now considered invalid, due to the teeth being eroded out of their original formation and  re-deposited. Today, modern dating methods indicate the teeth are eroded from a Miocene formation, which is between 23 and 5 million  years old. Any source that uses the "evidence" that teeth pulled from the south pacific are 11,000 to 24,000 years  old are purposely misleading the reader by using invalid and outdated evidence.
On a side note, these beautiful whitish fossil megalodon teeth use to be dredged from this area by the boatload. In 2003 the French  pulled the permit for dredging in this area. Today these beautiful New Caledonian fossil megalodon teeth cannot be collected.
If a recent megalodon tooth was ever found, Paleontologists and marine Biologists would have a field day publishing new journal articles.  These scientific and peer reviewed articles do not exist.
Megalodon evolved into a deep sea predator and is still roaming the deep seas.
There is no scientific evidence of megalodon evolving into anything else. The evidence suggests it went extinct  approximately 1.6 million years ago with many of the whales during the end Pliocene extinction.
Let's start this one by looking at megalodon origins. Although the fossil record can be spotty and there are gaps,  the fossil record for shark teeth in tertiary deposits is actually very plentiful, and nearly complete.
Scientists have a very nice evolutionary history of the megatooth sharks starting way back in the cretaceous  with the shark Cretolamna appenticulata. As time goes on, there is a clear fossil record of slight changes  in the shark teeth. The cusps gradually become smaller, and eventually disappear. The cutting edges become  serrated, the crown gets broader, and the overall size of the teeth increases over time. Paleontologists  assign each change of the megatooth shark into new species, and even genera, until the high mark is reached, the Carcharocles megalodon.
Yes, there is debate over exact species names, genera names, and when one morphological form is pronounced enough  to be considered a new species. But everyone does agree, there is a nice evolutionary history of megalodon  preserved in the fossil record. A general chronology of megatooth shark species, leading to megalodon is  shown in the image below:
This is a VERY general evolution pattern of the megatooth shark lineage, ending with the apex predator Carcharocles
Megalodon.  For a more indepth explination,  go to either the Megalodon Facts Page , or  the Megalodon Evolution Article .
The evolution of the megatooth shark into megalodon is clear. The extinction of megalodon also is  clear in the fossil record. Fossils of megalodon are plentiful, but at the Pliocene/Pleistocene contact,  fossils of megalodon vanish. The fossil record on megalodon cease. This doesn't mean there are  not marine Pleistocene formations. There are, and they are plentiful. They contain an array of  marine fauna, including many surviving sharks and the surviving whales (modern whales). They  just don't contain megalodon fossils anymore. There are no transitional fossils showing a  gradual change of megalodon into something else, there simply are no fossils of megalodon  or similar creatures. If megalodon changed into something else, there would be a clear  record in these Pleistocene formations. There is no record, they simply vanish. The only  valid conclusion is megalodon became extinct.
The Oceans are so vast and mostly unexplored; a large predator can easily evade detection, so megalodon can exist.
This is probably the most commonly used argument. That's because the statement is partially true.  The oceans are vast and a large predator can evade detection. Unfortunately, the statement contains a common  logical fallacy: Argument from Ignorance. This common logical fallacy states since we don't know or can never  prove whether a claim is true or false, it must be false or it must be true (depending on how you are arguing).
Scientists are always finding new deep sea animals. However, the evidence for megalodon is not there.  There could be space aliens under the sea, there could be unicorns, dragons, Elvis, Jimmy Hoffa all living  in some underwater castle yet to be discovered. However, the evidence for these are also not there.
If we cannot 100% prove or disprove a statement, we need to weigh the scientific evidence. Megalodon is  just not any oceanic creature. It was THE top apex predator of the oceans. The evidence is just not there  for a large undetected apex predator ruling the oceans. I'm sure there are plenty of other undetected animals,  including new species of sharks roaming the oceans, but none of them are going to be a top apex predator like the megalodon.
Let's look at some of the reasons why:
If megalodons were alive today, we would be seeing them, ALL THE TIME.
Although unusual, it was a warm water animal. Fossils are only found in ancient warm water oceans and seas,  not near the poles. They used nursing grounds that were near shore, the East Atlantic Coastal Plain and Florida  were two such nursing grounds. Juveniles would live and grow there.
They ate cetacea (whales), and lots of them.
They were common. Megalodon fossils are found nearly globally in all warm and temperate waters of the  Miocene and Paleocene. These were not rare animals, their fossils become relatively abundant during the Miocene  and Pliocene, more so than the Great White sharks.
If megalodons still exist in their forms today, we would be seeing them ALL THE TIME. These top apex predators would  be spotted eating whales on whale watching tours, greenpeace would see them, they would be spotted nearshore along warm  coastlines. Carcasses would be washing ashore from time to time (like the basking sharks). They would not be hiding in  the deep, cold, dark depths of the sea. These animals were in no way designed for that.
Megalodon was THE top apex predator of the oceans. The modern ecology of the oceans cannot support such an  apex predator today.
A major event occurred toward the end of the Paleocene, the Isthmus of Panama rose, creating a land bridge between North  and South America. This completely shut down the tropical currents connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Remember,  megalodon fossils are only found from warm waters. This basically stopped the radiation of megalodon. It could no longer  swim from ocean to ocean. Megalodon populations became isolated in "islands of warm water".
The Paleocene showed other dramatic changes. Global temperatures cooled, Ice Age cycles were triggered. Water was locked up  in the poles, causing a dramatic drop in global sea levels. Megalodons nursing areas were now above sea level.
All of these events caused a major disruption in marine fauna, especially megafauna, like whales and sharks. Whale diversity  (megalodons main food source) shrank. Many whale genera became extinct, including the cetotherids that were a main food source.  Many of the whales that survived adapted and started migrating into cooler, more nutrient rich waters where megalodon could  not go. Megalodon, being a warm water animal, and could not follow these whales. Other whales adapted into large killing  apex predators that hunted in pods, such as the Orcas. Juvenile megalodons would have made for tasty Orca snacks.
Just by looking at the ecological changes above spells disaster for a top apex predator. When an ecosystem collapses, the  first animals to go are the ones on the top of the food chain. Today, the limited warm ocean waters are not nutrient rich  enough to support a large apex predator. Also there simply are not enough cetacea to support a large apex predator. There are  no more nursing grounds left for this top apex predator.
Summing this all up, it's habitat is gone, it's food source is extinct, and there are now other (smaller) apex predators in the oceans.  There is simply no room, ecologically speaking, for a megalodon to exist.
So, to sum everything up... Megalodon is NOT alive today, it went extinct around 2.6 million years ago.
Go to the Megalodon Shark Page to learn the real facts about the largest shark to ever live, including the actual facts about it's extinction.
Recommended Book about the Megalodon Shark:
MEG: A Novel of Deep Terror
A FICTIONAL NOVEL by Steve Alten, first published in 1997.
This is not a REAL science book about megalodons. This is a FICTIONAL NOVEL about a megalodon shark terrorizing  the California coast and the adventures of the main character Jonas Taylor. "Meg: A Novel fo Deep Terror" and its sequals are fast and entertaining reads.  The reason why I have it listed here is the movie based on this novel is set to be released in 2017.  Kind of like Jurrassic Park, I like to read the fictional novel first, and then see the movie!
The National Geographic DVD: Prehistoric Predators: Monster Shark
is the only Video I've found that actually has real facts about the Megalodon.  It is not one of those garabage "mocumentaries" of recent.   National Geographic does a great job at presenting everything about the Megalodon, including it's paleoecology, extinction, and relationship to the Great White.
If you are looking for a real megalodon documentary, this is it.
Get Your Very Own Megalodon Tooth:
These are Authentic Megalodon teeth sold by Fossil Era , a very reputable fossil dealer (that I personally know) who turned his fossil passion into a business. These Megalodon teeth come in all sizes and prices, from small and inexpensive 2 and 3" teeth to muesum quality 6+" teeth. Each tooth has a detailed descriptions and images that include its collecting location and formation. If you are looking for a megalodon  tooth, browse through these selections!