How are scientists certain that Megalodon is extinct when approximately 95% of the world’s oceans remain unexplored?

Question

Would like to understand the scientific understanding that can be simply conveyed.

Thanks you.

In: 5134

Answer 1

The “95% of the oceans haven’t been explored” thing isn’t really true and really depends on the context. Do you mean the ocean floor? Then sure. But ships are criss-crossing the open ocean all the time, and a super large shark like Megalodon would need to be swimming around in open water near the coasts to find enough food. We’d see it. Additionally, we’d find a lot of newer teeth washing up on shore. All the teeth we find from Megalodon are very old.