Megalodons had large babies that likely grew by eating eggs in womb – study

Annual growth bands in a vertebra of the Megalodon along with hypothetical silhouettes of the shark at birth and death, each compared with size of typical adult human (Kenshu Shimada/DePaul University)

The gigantic Megalodon or megatooth shark gave birth to babies larger than most adult humans – which grew by feeding on unhatched eggs in the womb, new research suggests.

The animal, which lived nearly worldwide roughly 15 to 3.6 million years ago, reached at least 50 feet (15 metres) in length.