A girl in Maryland got a big surprise for Christmas, but it wasn’t under her tree: it was under water. It was a megalodon tooth the size of his hand.
Alicia Sampson wrote on Facebook that her daughters Molly and Natalie ordered wellies for Christmas so they could “go shark tooth hunting like a pro.” And as soon as they got the waders, that’s exactly what they did.
The weather was freezing and Sampson said it was only 10 degrees outside, but the low tide made it a particularly good day for fossil hunting. Molly, 9, declared on the way: “I’m looking for Meg!”…in the end, she found him.
“She told me she was knee-deep in water when she saw it and she dove in to get it,” Sampson told CBS News. She “she Said she got her arms wet, but it was worth it. The look on her face is the only thing that makes me regret not going with them because I can’t even imagine the scream that came out of her mouth.”
The family took the tooth to the Calvert Marine Museum, which confirmed the identity of the fossil. and shared the exciting news of the “future paleontologist” on Facebook. According to the museum, Molly had taken her find to her paleontology department, but is still keeping it to enjoy for herself.
Sampson’s husband, Bruce, has been searching for fossils in the area along the Chesapeake Bay since he was a child and has always dreamed of finding a giant tooth, Sampson said. But it wasn’t until his daughter’s Christmas day that she was able to get one.
“Molly has found over 400 teeth in her 9 years, ranging from tiny to an inch or two, and now with this one, which is 5 inchesSampson said. “…she’s always wanted to find ‘Meg,’ but for whatever reason, she talked her into being on Christmas morning.”
Specifically, the tooth is from the left side of the shark’s upper jaw, Godfrey said, which is known from the width of the tooth’s root. Godfrey said the shark that would have had the tooth would likely have been 45 to 50 feet long.
According to the Australian Museum, this species lived between 23 and 3.6 million years ago. They were known to grow to over 66 feet in length, according to the museum, about three times the size of a great white shark.
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