Big Meg: The Story of the Largest and Most Mysterious Predator That Ever Lived

Paleontologist Tim Flannery (The Eternal Frontier) teams up with his scientist daughter Emma (Weirdest Creatures in Time) for this intermittently stimulating examination of the megalodon, an extinct shark species that lived from 20 to five million years ago. Admitting that the megalodon “remains largely a mystery,” with the only known remnants consisting of “fossilised teeth and a few vertebrae,” the authors gamely cover what scientists have speculated on the basis of this evidence. Because megalodon teeth are usually found “as isolated specimens,” it’s believed the megalodon, like most sharks, produced and lost teeth continuously, with each individual “capable of producing tens of thousands of teeth over its century-long life.” A study of growth bands in a megalodon vertebra found in Belgium suggested the animal was more than two meters long when it was born. Among extant sharks, the authors observe, such “large pups are indicative of both live birth and an unsavoury behaviour known as intrauterine cannibalism.” The impressive science highlights how much researchers have been able to learn from a limited fossil record. Unfortunately, there’s still a fair bit of filler about contemporary shark attacks on humans, the decimation of shark populations due to overfishing, and the evolution of sharks generally. Still, this is worth diving into. Agent: David Forrer, InkWell Management. (Feb.)