ExtinctZoo - Shark Attacks So Brutal They Became Fossils

Episode Date: July 22, 2025

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the top predators you could swim into. And thus, it's likely sharks who have caused more terror to other animals than pretty much anything else, and we humans, unfortunately know this all too well. Now in reality, sharks are mostly harmless to people. I mean, if you look at the numbers, there are less than 10 fatal attacks occurring worldwide per year, which just in comparison, we kill about 100 million of them. Yeah. That being said, there is something about shark attacks that make them way scarier than

other animal attacks. And you've probably felt the same way if you've ever watched Shark Week, leading many to have a great fascination over documented cases of attack between humans and sharks. Although it's not only people who have ended up feeling their wrath. As once again, sharks have been around for a hot minute, and while we do have to mainly use our imagination to picture these past victims, sometimes we don't. Because over the years, bones and other artifacts have been unearthed, which have captured, very real, prehistoric and ancient shark attacks.

And ironically, if you look at every single one thus discovered, you'd realize that despite the countless number of animals sharks have hunted throughout the years, it's none other than themselves who first felt their own wrath, because as of right now, the oldest evidence we have for shark predation is a case of shark-on-shark violence. Who'd have thunk? The specific specimen I am talking about dates all the way back to the Devonian, some 360 million years ago, meaning sharks were already a nippy bunch before trees had even figured out how to grow.

The prehistoric suspect in question was a shark known as Cladosilaki, an abnormally streamlined and therefore likely speedy genus that was about the size of a frill shark, but whose body shape was very different, instead taking on a design akin to what's seen in the lamina day, namely makos and small great whites. But then on the flip side, its teeth were actually more like that of a frilled shark, being cusped and great for catching prey, yet not so great for sawing huge chunks of meat off of prey. And this forced it to primarily go after things it could swallow whole, an assumption ultimately

proved by a remarkably well-preserved specimen from the shores of Lake Erie, who had its stomach intact. And the stomach contents turned out to be intact too, seeing that within paleontologists located a juvenile shark that had been gobbled up whole by the Klato Selaki, highlighting that these guys were not picky eaters, and cannibals in at least a loose sense, as the identity of this unfortunate victim was never specified. However, it does remain possible that it was indeed another fellow Cladoselaki, which if the case would also make this attack the first evidence we have for cannibalism in any animal ever. And another interesting find was that its

dinner, so to speak, was pointing to a rather strange way, with its tail facing away from the stomach, indirectly proving the Cladosilaki's extreme speed, as this angle meant that the attack had to have come from the back, wherein the hunter had managed to outpace its prey and and gulp it straight down, tail first. But honestly, I'd make the argument that getting swallowed whole is actually one of the better ways to go out by a shark. I mean, just asked this 80 million-year-old pterosaur, who literally took a shark to the neck.

Not something you hear about every day, and definitely not something you'd expect a terasaur to have experienced, seeing that sharks are waterborne and terrors were, well, not, and leading to a prehistoric mystery that began in 1965, when along the smoky hillchalk region in Kansas, this, paleontologists stumbled upon a pristine, Tyrannodon. The overall find was nothing really new, seeing that Tyrannodons are about the most common terrosaurs we know of, with over a thousand specimens having been found.

But what caught their attention was a singular large tooth that was deeply wedged into its neck vertebrae. And the tooth clearly wasn't that of a terrosaur, dinosaur, or anything land-based, being rather a shark's tooth, and it matched the shape of just about the worst shark you could have met in these parts. These parts being the western interior seaway, and the worst shark being the Cretoxy rhino, meaning the Cretaceous sharp nose. This was essentially the time's great white, and it was actually rather related, having also

been a lamina form or mackerel shark. Yet it was arguably spookier than our modern jaws, namely because it was bigger, with specimens reaching 8 meters or 26 feet long, and weighing about the same amount as a killer whale, leading them to sometimes being formally described as an orcocised maka with the face of a thresher shark. And they had the teeth to match the scassly description, seeing that they were so knife-like that its nickname is the ginsu shark, after the brand of knives. So suffice to say, you did not want to be bitten by one.

And yet, our poor Trannidon friend cannot avoid this fate, with the researchers believing that one day, while it was likely doing its own hunting, this 5-meter or 16-foot individual dove into the water, upon which it was instantly spotted and attacked by roughly 2.5-meter or 8-foot-long Cotoxy rhino. significantly smaller than it, but plenty big enough, as the tooth's location showcased that the Tiranodon was rammed at mighty speeds, which were aimed directly at its neck, which not only removed a chunk of its neck, but also lodged a tooth within, definitely causing fatal injuries to the flying beast. And yet, its body, as I mentioned, was in pristine condition. So how come? Well,

the best explanation we have is that following its strike, the relatively small Katoxirina was spooked by another creature, which is honestly not too surprising, considering that we are talking about the deadliest ocean of all time. And so considering that, you probably won't be shocked to hear that nothing in this ocean was ultimately saved from sharks. As over the years, nearly every animal here has been found with shark bite marks, mainly coming from again the Cotoxy rhino. Some of the more notable cases include large protostagid turtles who sustained attacks to not only their underside, but also their shell, a mosesore that had half of its back vertebrae removed, digested, and spat out, and then finally a Tylosaurus that seemingly got its snout cut in two

by a vicious chomp. And while not a live attack per se, there is also evidence that hadrosaurs, i.e. dinosaurs, were fed upon by this unit two, after dying and being washed out to sea. So suffice to say, this was one bad apple, so therefore might not blow your mind to hear that its future cousin would become the baddest apple to ever swim, the megalodon, the largest shark of all time. Now, it might be a broken record to talk about its size, but I'm still going to. I mean, we are talking about a whale-sized shark here after all, who by the way, just this year got a new size estimate, with it now believed to have measured 24 meters or 80 feet, and weighing over 100 tons. So, you know, basically on par with some average-sized blue whales, who are just the largest

animals we know of, no big deal. And then, even at the lower estimates, Megalodon is still a giant. So no matter what size estimate you use, the bottom line is it was massive. And it's possible that an adult would have needed 100,000 calories every single day, which it obtained not only with enormous teeth, but also a bite force that was possibly 180,000 newtons, making many believe that it had the strongest bite of all time, and powerful enough that Megalodon is now considered to have been a titan slayer, who did not care where it bit you. You see, other sharks, like Great Whites, will typically strike from below,

aiming at the vulnerable underside of an animal. But for the megalodon, there was no care, as its teeth and jaws were designed to vaporize and pulverize through bones, organs, lungs, and all, no matter where it bit. And they did this to the largest animals of all time, whales. And remarkably, there is a whale specimen that captured just how grizzly a megalon attack truly was. Off the coast of what is today Maryland,

the bones of an ancient, roughly 15 million-year-old whale, were located, whose vertebrae, in this case backbones, had gotten blown out, literally. Across them, researchers noted the presence of extremely deep cut marks and a horrendous shear compression fracture, which was so catastrophic that no comparable damage has ever been found in living whales, even in those who have been rammed by literal boats. And so what's worse than a boat flying into you? Well, a bus-sized megalon, with giant choppers to boot.

And lo and behold, a lone megtooth was found next to the bones, that also happened to fit nicely into the fossils themselves, leading to the conclusion that this whale had at least partially been turned to chum. And based off of the angle of the damage, it is believed that the cetacean had been unaware of the megalodon's presence, who ambushed it from the side and proceeded to thrash it around like a ragdoll. And if it was close enough to the surface, there is a chance that the force would have been great enough

to lift the whale right out of the water. But here's what's insane. Based on the remains, it's likely that with an instant, the whale experienced a semi-crushed spinal cord, mass of internal bleeding, and partial paralysis, and of course, a bell out of pain, which only makes this next fact all the more insane, which is that the whale actually survived. And we know this because the vertebrae had signs of new bone growth, something that just doesn't happen if you're dead. And the consensus is that the Megalodon had failed to finish the job.

Shocking, I know. Perhaps it gave up in order to conserve energy, or maybe it was even startled by the force of its own attack. But whatever the case, there is an argument to be had that the whale would have wished to died in the initial attack, as ultimately the wound did stop healing after a few weeks, meaning it eventually succumbed to its injuries, possibly due to infection. Like the Tyrannidon's predicament from before, it's not often you hear about a whale getting its back blown out by a shark. But the Megalodon was just that crazy, in this case isn't even the most metal meg attack we've uncovered. As that achievement may go to another unfortunate whale, one that's actually still

swimming, in a sense. The sperm whale, or rather a sperm whale. Now, when you think of a predator attacking, you probably think of an animal getting bit on its body, limbs, or in the case for a terrosaur friend, even the neck, or perhaps just simply swallowed whole. But what you definitely don't expect is the prey getting its mouth bitten off. And yet, that's what apparently happened to an extremely poor cetacean. With researchers in North Carolina, locating a singular sperm whale tooth, dated to a few million years ago that had been chomped on by some pretty powerful giant serrated teeth, with the likely suspect having been the megalodon. Originally, there was some skepticism that this tooth had just been bit by a meg that was scavenging.

Because of her being honest with ourselves, what would be crazy enough to rip off the face of a sperm whale? But upon further examination, they found that the part of the tooth damaged was associated with an area embedded within the jaw, meaning the first Meg's bite had to have crushed through the whale's jaw before it made contact with the teeth. And you would definitely not expect a shark to willingly do that if it was just scavenging, seeing that the return on bone to flesh ratio ain't that great. And thus leading to a new idea that the shark had found a sperm whale and just decided to give it a devastating smooch, because his teeth and jaws were just that stupidly powerful, such that it didn't really matter where it bit. And so naturally, removing something's face is quite devastating, and a fatal.

and the sperm whale likely died fairly soon after the attack. But I will throw it out there that there is a chance that the shark responsible was not a megladon per se, with it potentially being the Otitis Chubutensis, who belonged to the same genus and was possibly a morphospecies, which basically means we aren't positive that the two are really separate species. But even if it was, Chubutensis is still just about the closest thing to a megalodon nature ever got, seeing that individuals could be about 13.5 meters or 44 feet long. When you need to build up your team to handle the growing chaos at work,

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And visit ebglis.com or call 1800 lilyrx or 1-800 545-979. Now I, for one, am just happy we don't have Goliath sharks anymore that we're so OP that they could bite whatever, wherever, whenever. But I'm not going to sit here and tell you that sharks have lost all their scariness, because I do think shark attacks remain rather grim. A reality that's quite obvious, considering our not so always peaceful coexistence with them, which is clear if you've seen my other video, wherein I discuss the first known shark attack on a human. But if you need a refresher, here's the gist. A 3,400-year-old male skeleton from the The Japanese Joman culture was found off of the coast of the Seto Inland Sea, who bore monumental

damage attributed to a shark, with Scans finding that the adult skeleton in question had sustained over 790 deep serration wounds, some of which were deep enough to remove bone, and apparently organs and limbs too, as his chest cavity and abdomen had been eviscerated, while his feet and left hand were dismembered. And just to add fuel to the fire, every single rib he had was either fractured or torn apart. And given the shape of the tooth marks and the bones, and going off what we know about animals in the area, it was ultimately decided that either a large great white or potentially a tiger shark was responsible for his death, and had likely attacked him while he was out swimming,

presumably looking for fish or crustaceans. And officially, this is regarded as the first evidence of a shark killing or even attacking a human. But unofficially, it turns out that there is some competition to this quote-unquote achievement. As when it was first reported, another paleontologist came forth with a support of the support of posed older case, a 6,000-year-old specimen from the ancient village of Paloma in Peru, which is attributed to the late pre-ceramic period. Unfortunately, the skeleton in question had belonged to a rather young individual, who was estimated to have been 17 at the time of his

death, a death which had evidently been extremely violent, as his body endured multiple limb removals, including a missing left leg, a partially removed right hip, and multiple deep bite marks on his forearm bones. And together, these damage patterns just scream, shark attack. As even in modern times, fatal shark attacks usually involve a leg first being bitten, sometimes clean off, while the forearm wounds are then in line with self-defense attempts, as most people tend to stick out their arms to ward off the sharks, often leading to more major damage. And similar to the man in Japan, the scientist who made the discovery believes the victim was attacked while out in shallow waters, likely again, fishing.

And given the severness of the wounds and the medical technology at the time, or rather lack thereof, it's quite evident that this is what killed the teen, and would have done so fairly quickly, with him having experienced immense shock and blood loss. However, what is a bit strange is that he was not unearth on the actual coast, but rather in a grave, likely implying that during the attack, others who were in the vicinity pulled him out of the water, either after he was already dead or near death. And while sharks in the region are common, like tiger, bowl, and great whites, it seems that shark attacks were still extremely rare, even back then, as he was buried in a grave with decorations, which were unlike any of the other known graves,

suggesting that his death was perhaps regarded as unique. But like I said, though, this is an unofficial case, as ultimately the report on this was never published in a peer-reviewed journal, and calls for a follow-up on it were never made, with the only published mention coming from an older book, leading to the possibility that A, it wasn't as old as it was claimed, or B, the fines were only misinterpreted as a shark attack. But there is no misinterpreting the next example, as it's a specimen that is often considered to be the best preserved evidence of shark predation ever discovered. And it didn't even happen that recently, but over 183 million years ago, during the early Jurassic,

and off of the coast of what is now Germany. Now obviously, Germany today isn't exactly known for its sharks, but back then it was teeming with them, including an individual who had become the specimen in question, an extremely well-preserved, hybitus, a kind of hibertan shark, which could grow to three meters or ten and were fairly similar in shape to certain modern sharks, with the most notable difference being two many-sized devil horns on the front of its face, as well as thorns that were attached to its not one, but two equally sized dorsal fins. But despite its prehistoric age, this particular hybridus looked like it died the other

day, in a sense at least, as its burial happened in a way where its entire body's imprint was preserved, including even certain organs, like the stomach. Inside of which, researchers located what looked like dozens of long magnets, but upon further review, they realized they were no magnets but balaamites, over a hundred of them, to be exact, all nicely packed into a circular mass that took up the width of the Hibodoss's body, and gave proof of devastating shark attacks, at least for the little squids, that is. And this find helped prove that without a doubt the Hibetus was a very active hunter, and a fast one at that, swallowing prey hole or utilizing its cussed teeth to grip slippery prey,

offering them no chance of escape. And this specimen definitely proved to be a bad day for the Belmite kind. But researchers eventually noticed that it was also a bad day for the shark as well. Terrible actually, as these attacks were its last, evidence by its food which had never been digested. And ironically, it turns out that the hybitus itself may be the one to blame for its his fortunate death. As like I mentioned, those Belm Knights were arranged in a giant blob within its stomach that was big enough to either have had choked the poor shark out or have caused his stomach to explode, in a sense. Either way, not pretty. And if there's any lesson here, guys, it's to chew before swallowing. But as the age old saying goes, fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice,

and I ain't going to be fooled again, as there is another fossil out there of the same time period involving a bellem knight who allowed his stomach to cloud his judgment, resulting in its doom. And this wasn't any old bellem knight, but one of the genus, Pasolotuthis, which itself was an accomplished hunter, possessing a sharp beak and dozens of large hooks that ran along its tentacles. And apparently, one day it had used them to ensnare a crustacean, a lobster to be specific. And this lobster was by all means a goner. And yet, before the squid had even been able to take a bite of its juicy meal, it had died. And we know this because the two were found almost perfectly preserved together on the sea floor,

with the lobsters showing no signs of being eaten, instead having died of not being able to break free from the grasp of the dead squid, who, in its moment of glory, had forgotten about the world, focusing solely on the food in front of it, which allowed for another predator of the sea to ram it from the side. And we know it was hit from the side as well. One side of it is severely mangled, also explaining why I'd never got to take that first bite,

because it was killed pretty much instantly. And when examining the wounds, it was evident that the attack had been carried out by an animal with cusp teeth. Now, can you think of any predator in the early Jurassic who had cusp teeth and a taste for bellum nights? Yep, that's right, our pal the hybitus. And though no shark or any tooth was found nearby, it is presumed to be the likely a suspect given its teeth shape.

Though there is a remaining question of how come the hybitus never ate its catch. After all, not only was there a bellum night, but also a free lobster. And ironically, paleontologists think the answer may have been that this hybridus had learned from the previous story, as it potentially had already eaten, yet still chomped the carefree squid out of natural reflexes. But then, once it was dead, the shark had already decided that it wasn't that peckish after all. Thus, ruining the bellum night's dinner for nothing. How rude? However, the find overall was not for nothing, as it, along with every other fossil I've mentioned, has helped us understand how sharks lived and hunted throughout the ages.

Though, it's not ultimately just fossils that can share insight into these things, as human artifacts go a long way too, like, for example, written sources. And when I say written sources, I'm talking about ancient ones, that in some cases represent the first time humans explicitly acknowledged shark existence. And the top contender for this is an account from ancient Greece, that dated to 440 BC, so over 2,400 years. years ago. Now Greece, as you probably know, is surrounded by multiple relatively warm seas, as well

as numerous islands, leading to it being a surprisingly shark-friendly area, something that according to Herodotus, the Persians found out the hard way, as he claimed that in 492 BC, while the first Persian invasion was underway, a military commander by the name of Mardonius had mustered a fleet of 300 ships that ended up catching a nasty wind, and smashing it along some cliffs, sending some 20,000 sailors into the water. And in the water, these stranded sailors were apparently descended upon by sea monsters, who seized and devoured many of them, and actually leading to the Persians needing to retreat. Now, I will say, Herodotus is known for exaggerating certain details, but many presume that there is some truth in this account,

with the sea monsters likely referring to, sharks, who were way more common in the region back then. In fact, later accounts claim that in the event of a shipwreck, sharks were were often so abundant that they would immediately move to attack those who fell into the waters. And what's even more interesting is that even if we choose to discard Herodotus' account for being too flaky, it's still this general region that gives us the oldest written accounts of sharks. As in 77 AD, Pliny the Elder, a Roman naturalist, wrote of how sponge divers would often experience fierce encounters with sharks, who he referred to as dogfish.

He discussed how these buggersome predators would avidavily make for the diver's groin he and a pale parts. His words, not mine. And according to him, the only option to defend yourself was to turn on the shark itself and frighten them. As sharks fear men, just as much as men fear them. Again, his words. And the prevalence of shark attacks in the ancient Mediterranean really must have been something, as it is also home to the first artistic evidence we have of a shark attack, and that is actually older than both of the written accounts. Specifically, a 2,700-year-old vase was found on the island of Iskia in the Gulf of Naples, which depicted shipwrecked sailors fighting and being attacked by large fish that are most reminiscent to Great Whites.

And some reproductions of this vase have even suggested that one of the scenes it originally tried to recreate was a sailor getting his head munched on by one of these sharks. So case in point, sharks can be a bit scary. But I would like to remind everyone that we do much more harm to them than they do to us. so I wouldn't sweat it too much. Anyways, thanks for watching, and until next time. Yamava Resort and Casino at San Manuel is California's number one entertainment destination

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