George is a senior staff reporter at Gizmodo. Santucci, Hodnett, and their colleagues are planning to share more about this and other findings at the park in October, during a meeting of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology in Cincinnati. During the Late Mississippian, this part of Kentucky was a shallow sea featuring a rich diversity of ancient life, including a seafloor covered in crinoids (animals like brittle stars and sea urchins), solitary corals, and brachiopods (clam-like creatures). Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. Rare ‘Magic Rabbit’ Has Been Spotted For The First Time In Two Decades, Science Confirms That Dogs Know Whether Or Not A Person Is Trustworthy, Disclaimer This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. Hodnett ventured into the labyrinthine cave system in November of last year, crawling around on all fours for about a quarter-mile to reach the site, as CNN reported. Some of the other oldest animals on Earth include: She is one of the largest carnivores in the world with a reported growth rate of just less than one centimeter a year making her about 5 meters long after a few hundred years of growing. 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Megalodon, meaning "big tooth", is an extinct species of shark that lived approximately 23 to 3.6 million years ago, during the Early Miocene to the Pliocene. Late last year, Mammoth Cave specialists Rick Olson and Rick Toomey noticed some fossils sticking out from the limestone wall while exploring and mapping the extensive cave system. The “geologic formation in which we are finding these shark fossils are well known, but this is the first time we are documenting sharks from these rocks,” said paleontologist John-Paul Hodnett of Maryland’s Dinosaur Park in an email. “We certainly plan to publish on the new shark material and likely develop a website to present the info,” added Santucci. He says, “There are other aspects of their biology which are super-interesting to know more about and to shed light upon.”. This shark lived to exceed 60ft, three times the length of a large great white. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. Once at the site, Hodnett found traces of a lower jaw, skull cartilage (which is super rare, given that cartilage doesn’t preserve well), and several teeth. Work out the date of these proteins, the scientists say, and it is possible to achieve an estimate of the shark’s age. “Due to the delicate nature of the cave environment, and the logistics of navigating equipment in the narrow passages of the cave, it may not be ideal to remove large chunks of limestone to extract the fossils,” he told Gizmodo. “We might want to develop either a temporary or permanent exhibit to display the shark fossils. A number of shark fossils had already been found in the caves, said Santucci, but the photos shared by Olson and Toomey necessitated a visit by Hodnett, a specialist in Paleozoic sharks. They sent photos of the fossils to Santucci, who in turn relayed the images to Hodnett. This shark lived some 330 million years ago. The area where the sharks are located “is remote and not an area where visitors normally travel in the cave,” Santucci told Gizmodo. A number of shark fossils had already been found in the caves, said Santucci, but the photos shared by Olson and Toomey necessitated a visit by Hodnett, a specialist in Paleozoic sharks. Santucci, Hodnett, and their colleagues are planning to share more about this and other findings at the park in October, during a meeting of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology in Cincinnati. Paleontologists working at the national park uncovered fossils from around 150 sharks representing as many as 20 distinct species, reports CNN.