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Megalodon at the Museum: Massive shark teeth on display at Buena Vista Museum
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) — For decades, kids and adults alike have watched 'Shark Week,' the week-long feature on the fish that have commanded the oceans since time immemorial. But what you may not know is that the king of the sharks might've swam down Chester Avenue millions of years ago.
It probably didn't follow traffic laws, of course. At that time, Bakersfield was completely submerged underwater, part of the grand Pacific Ocean.
But as the megalodon shark died out and the oceans receded to their current resting places, the sharks that swam up and down the streets of Bakersfield left remnants all over, particularly the now world famous Sharktooth Hill — leaving teeth from the granddaddy of them all.
'It was floating around here in Bakersfield around 14 to 16 million years ago,' said Koral Hancharick, executive director of Buena Vista Museum. 'For every inch of tooth, we know there are 10 feet of shark, and that holds true today. So when you have a six-to-seven-inch tooth, you have a 60-to-75-foot shark … they made 'Jaws' kinda look like a guppy.'
A shark so big, they could eat baby whales whole, and their teeth, now on display at the Buena Vista Museum in downtown Bakersfield. It almost makes you glad that they've been extinct for around two million years.
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But when the meg, or, as Shark Week called it some years ago, Sharkzilla, was featured on the show, it was right on Sharktooth Hill where they filmed their special on one of the largest apex predators to walk — sorry, swim — the Earth.
'That was a pretty cool thing that happened here in Bakersfield,' said Hancharick. 'I just think that megalodon has a great following due to the different movies that dramatized it.'
Certain movies of course, teasing that maybe there's a massive man-eating megalodon hiding deep in the ocean's depths. Doubtful, says Hancharick.
'If you talk to most scientists, its food chain was all close to shore, so it definitely wouldn't be in the deep,' said Hancharick.
Well, good news: you don't have to worry about your yacht trip being cut short by a massive shark attack.
Nowadays, the modern great white shark has taken the title of 'King of the Ocean,' but they should be counting their lucky stars that the megalodon, the 'Lord of the Seas,' isn't still around to show who is really the boss.
If you want to see teeth from the biggest shark to ever grace the planet, you can see them at the Buena Vista Museum at 2018 Chester Ave.
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