A six-year-old boy from England, Sammy Shelton, and his father were elated when they learnt that what they found from the Bawdsey Beach in Suffolk county some time back is a tooth of the megalodon, a now-extinct shark that existed on Earth more than a million years ago. Bawdsey Beach is famous among fossil hunters.
The tooth that Sammy found was four inches long. Megalodons, which could grow up to 60 feet in length, had teeth that were seven inches long. Sammy’s find was confirmed by Prof Ben Garrod, an evolutionary biologist at the University of East Anglia in Norwich.
While speaking to the Great Yarmouth Mercury, the professor said that the tooth found by the young boy was in a really good condition as most of the fossils that are found are usually worn out. He also emphasised that finding a megalodon tooth is very rare.
Such a great find. Something he will never forget. Dont tell the tooth fairy!
— Chris Goodwin (@Supercage82) May 9, 2022
What a legend. Happy for Sammy to join me on a fossil hunt.
— Dr Dean Lomax (@Dean_R_Lomax) May 9, 2022
Damn, spent a good three years looking for one of them! Lad looks well chuffed. I’ll stick to my Mako teeth I found in West Sussex 😅
— Louis Was Here (@LouisJ003) May 9, 2022
Brilliant. He must have eagles. I was like as a kid, I could spot some funny-shaped pebbles.Not any more, of course.
I hope that lucky boy gets some big pocket-money from the tooth fairy.— Dr Lionel Urquhart 77Para (@LionelUrquhart) May 9, 2022
Should name it ‘The Politician’ as they are prehistoric in their thinking and bite off more than they can chew.
— Tommo (@I_Tommo_I) May 9, 2022
— Danny Cascarino (@dannyjcascarino) May 9, 2022
Who is the coolest kid in the UK today?
That ked who found a megalodon tooth on the beach I would say 😎
— Mr Smith (@MichaelMyth) May 9, 2022
— Charlie Painter🇺🇦 (@Bloke99) May 9, 2022
Show and tell just got a whole lot more competitive, someone better find a unicorn to beat that.
— Louise Dixon (@LouiseDixonMCR) May 9, 2022
Super duper cool dude 😎🥇🥇🥇
— Jay Robertson (@jayrobertson35) May 9, 2022
“This little boy is the first person to touch this (the shark tooth) in nearly three million years. He is handling the tooth of the largest ever predatory shark and one that will be of interest to the whole palaeontology community,” the professor added.
Sammy’s father, who was with him when the tooth was found, told BBC, “Sammy was very excited as we’d seen fragments of shark teeth on the beach, but nothing as big and heavy as this.”
