In a groundbreaking discovery, archaeologists in northwestern Australia have unearthed evidence that massive sharks once prowled the region’s coastline 115 million years ago.
Dr. Mikael Siversson of the Western Australia Museum has been instrumental in reshaping our understanding of these ancient predators.
As the lead in earth and planetary sciences, Dr. Siversson played a pivotal role in identifying the fossil remains of a colossal shark species found in Australia.
His significant find in the Gascoyne area of Western Australia included ancient teeth that provide a glimpse into a world long past.
“This tooth, dating back 97 million years, remains exceptionally sharp,” Dr. Siversson shared with 9News.
The teeth allowed Siversson and his team to discover an ancient lineage of gigantic sharks, akin to creatures from Jurassic Park, that once rivaled orcas in size near Darwin and Queensland.
“They dominated the oceans for about 23 million years,” Siversson said.
Siversson’s original discovery was in 1999 in the Giralia Range on Cardabia Station, in Baiyungu country.
It was a major scientific find but the real importance of the discovery only emerged recently.
He said they were the first modern great sharks to evolve into giant-sized sharks, and it happened off the coast of Australia.
“So that’s why the Western Australian specimen is so critical to the understanding of this entire group of giant predatory sharks,” he said.
His work also identified that colossal sharks swam the oceans 10 million years earlier than previously thought.
All from teeth and vertebrae found in the WA outback.
