A young boy has discovered a giant tooth that once belonged to a massive megalodon shark.
Megalodon, also known as ‘big tooth’, is the largest shark species that ever existed on our planet. As the scientists believe, the megalodon lived as far as 23 million years ago and went extinct around 3.6 million years ago.
Now, long after the last of the gigantic beasts roamed the Earth’s oceans, a 6-year-old boy discovered a four-inch fossilized tooth that once belonged to a 60-foot-long predator.
Sammy Shelton reportedly came across the once-in-a-lifetime find while exploring Bawdsey Beach in Suffolk, England, together with his father.
After the rare find, Sammy proudly showed off the ancient fossil to his classmates at school. He has since always kept the hand-sized tooth close to him and doesn’t want to be separated from it even when he’s sleeping.
“People have said it’s a once-in-a-lifetime discovery. Really we were looking for interesting shells on the beach but instead we got this megalodon tooth,” Sammy’s father, Peter Shelton, said.
“It was huge and very heavy. I knew what it was but it wasn’t until I took it to others looking on the beach that I realized the significance.
“There was one guy down there who’s been looking all his life for a megalodon tooth and never found anything of this size.”
Mr. Shelton added: “At the moment he’s keeping it by his bedside. He’s taken it into school and to Beavers to show his friends. Sammy wants to go back again. He likes being outside.”
Meanwhile, evolutionary biologist Ben Garrod opened up about the boy’s rare find and suggested only a few such teeth are found each year.
“I have looked for one since I was Sammy’s age and never found one,” Garrod said in an interview with the Great Yarmouth Mercury.
“This little boy is the first person to touch this in nearly three million years.
“He is handling the tooth of the largest ever predatory shark and one that will be of interest to the whole paleontology community.”
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