Our Shark Education Program- Giant Sharks with Giant Teeth

[fossilsonwheels]

Our final stop in the Shark program is of course the giant Sharks of the Miocene. We wrap our adventure through the timeline of shark evolution by giving the kids what they expect to see, big shark teeth. Truthfully, we do not have many large shark teeth. I went for interesting teeth not big teeth but we have a few that will grab the kids attention. We give a very brief introduction to the giant sharks with a 2 inch Otodus tooth. We can spend too much time on Otodus or the ancestors of Megalodon as it just do not have time ( plus we do not have teeth from Auriculatus, Angustidens, or Chubutensis).  After that brief bit, we ask the kids a question....

 

What shark is the ancestor of the modern Great White ?

 

We give the kids a chance to answer that question for themselves by connecting them to the sharks that swimming in the ocean off the coast of California 12 million years. I want to explore the origins of the most well known modern shark and connect them to the fossil rich area just 6 or so hours south of where they live so we journey to Sharktooth Hill to finish the program. Isurus planus was a fairly large shark and probably reached lengths of over 20 feet. I have not found a lot of material about planus but I would think that based on tooth size, 20 feet seems possible. I have seen 2 inch planus teeth though I have nothing that big myself. We also show the kids a couple Isurus desori teeth only to mention that they MIGHT be related to modern Short-fin Makos.

 

We then jump into another species that is present at STH and the one the kiddos will be most familiar with, Megalodon. This is obviously a super important species to talk about because it is the most popular prehistoric shark. It is the T-rex of sharks. Biggest teeth of any shark found so far. Most likely the largest shark ever and quite possibly the largest fish. They ate whales. They were also common and the apex predator in the worlds oceans during their time. We do not know what they look like but my son is working on his version of Megalodon and it has elements of a basking shark to it along with the traditional Great White like appearance. I will tell the kids that for a long time, Megalodon was thought to be the ancestor of great whites but science has uncovered another possible contender for being the ancestor of great whites.

 

Carcharodon hastalis was a large shark that probably reached 30 feet in length. They had large teeth and were probably fast swimming ambush predators. I remember reading somewhere, that evidence existed from STH that the Broad-tooth White Shark hunted early pinnipeds from underneath, just as modern white sharks do. I can not remember where I read that and I want to track that down again to verify before saying that to kids. Anyway, we explain that they were probably very similar in appearance to great whites and filled a similar ecological role. I will add that transitional teeth have been found that are a pretty conclusive link the chain of white shark evolution but we want them to check out the teeth and judge for themselves.

 

Our presentation teeth

 

Pic 1 I. planus and I. desori. These are not the exact teeth for program. I do have a few bigger teeth but these were in my desk as I am doing this lol

 

Pic 2 Our 5.08 inch Megalodon tooth and the tooth that I suspect will be the most popular in the presentation. Not the prettiest nor the biggest but it is still a really big tooth to me. We also use a 3 inch tooth for the presentation but I did not photograph it.

 

Pic 3 a 2 inch hastalis, a 2.5 inch hastalis, and one that I personally think is cooler than even Megalodon, a 2.54 inch Great White. It is blue. It just looks cool and I think 2.54 is pretty large for a white shark tooth.

 

We wrap it up with questions from the kids while we go around the classroom handing out shark teeth to the students. If you happened to read all of these, you are a good soul because these are long winded posts I know lol Thank you to all who commented and offered encouragement.   I will probably start putting up the marine mammal stuff next.

 

 

 

[ynot]

Another "home run"!!

Have fun with this project!

[Darktooth]

I think that you are doing a great job. Back in the fall I did a presentation on sharks for my local Rockhound club. I had a between an hour - an hour and a half to talk. I tried to cover as much as I could about fossil sharks and modern sharks. One of the members works for a local library and asked me to do a presentation for the kids in April. These types of educational programs are a lot of fun for both the speaker and audience. For visuals, I bring in teeth that I have collected over the years, plus a few other items. Keep up the good work.

[fossilsonwheels]

2 hours ago, ynot said:

Another "home run"!!

Have fun with this project!

Thank you !!

[fossilsonwheels]

1 hour ago, Darktooth said:

I think that you are doing a great job. Back in the fall I did a presentation on sharks for my local Rockhound club. I had a between an hour - an hour and a half to talk. I tried to cover as much as I could about fossil sharks and modern sharks. One of the members works for a local library and asked me to do a presentation for the kids in April. These types of educational programs are a lot of fun for both the speaker and audience. For visuals, I bring in teeth that I have collected over the years, plus a few other items. Keep up the good work.

That is awesome. I will probably have as fun as the kids for sure. Good luck with your presentation in April !! Thank you