Megalodon fossil shark tooth found in South Africa

From The Independent in South Africa:

In a recent find of great significance, an American Fulbright scholar attached to the Zululand University Science Centre in Richards Bay has evidence that a giant prehistoric shark called the megalodon lived in the ocean off the Zululand coast.

Environmental geologist Terry Hutter shared details of the discovery with school children attending a National Marine Week Port Open Day at Richards Bay.

In a series of lectures to hundreds of pupils from rural areas throughout Zululand, Hutter showed his intrigued young audiences a giant tooth, found just outside the harbour, that belonged to a fish of a species that, millions of years ago, grew to the size of a bus, weighed 48 tons and fed on whales.

Similar teeth had been found in Australia, New Zealand, Chile and North and South America, but there were no official reports from South Africa of megalodons having existed here, Hutter said.

He said the fossil was a large section of what was undoubtedly the posterior tooth of a megalodon shark – the same genus as the great white – and about 15-million years old.

Hutter, who has been actively involved with the Zululand University Science Centre for four years, said a local resident had brought the fossil to the centre’s offices earlier this week. This had been in response to a local newspaper report quoting Hutter as saying there was “overwhelming evidence” that the megalodon existed off the Zululand coast, and this had paved the way for further paleontological and other scientific research in the area.

Megalodon video: here.

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