First of all: So, what were/are the two largest apex predators in history?
Well, baleen and sperm whales are predators but their status as apex predators are questionable at best, ruling them out. Many people think that a T-Rex, some sort of dinosaur, or other carnivorous land creature would be the largest apex predator. However, this is not true. Many of the largest apex predators in history have lived in the ocean because of the vast space to grow and since the water can support their larger weight. As of now, the two largest apex predators in history were Carcharocles Megalodon, a giant whale-eating shark and Livyatan Melvillei, a giant whale-eating raptorial whale both now extinct. Both of these animals were from similar time periods, and coexisted for a few million years. Livyatan appeared and went extinct during Megalodon’s rule.
But how would these two fare in a battle against each other?
Megalodon vs Livyatan:
Carcharocles Megalodon-
Size Estimates:- 50–80 feet long, 50-115 tons (170–180?)
Fighter Size- 70 feet long, 100 tons
Weakness-Tonic Immobility
Details- A massive female ninety year old shark, highly experienced, an active predator and highly opportunistic. The reinforced cartilage skeleton and numerous vertebrae allows this shark to be quick, fast and agile. It is warm blooded and therefore has bullet fast reactions, enhanced muscular strength, endurance and increased hunger like mammals. It's two hundred seventy six, seven inch teeth are perfect for slicing through flesh and bone of animals even larger than itself.
Livyatan Melvillei-
Size Estimates- 44-57 feet long, 30-60 tons
Fighter Size- 56 feet long, 59 tons
Weaknesses- Air Breather, Size
Details- A male toothed whale dwarfing many other whales, specialized in preying on small whales and often scavenging on dead whales. It's red muscle allows for stamina, however it suffers from decompression damage, a severe wear and tear from years of diving in its skeleton and muscles, causing it to lose explosiveness, speed and agility. Its teeth are over a foot long, and are conical in shape to crush down onto prey items up to twenty one feet in length or split open the ribs of dead whales and scavenge their organs.
Size Comparison-
Setting-Open Ocean
Fight!
The sunlight pierces the throughout the open ocean, causing nocturnal animals to flee such as squid and deep sea fish. The lone Livyatan cruises through the water, searching for new territory after its old one became scarce with food. After a couple hours, it comes across a large stretch of water with plentiful schools of fish, pods of small whales, and a whale carcass. The Livyatan assuming there are no predators nearby, bites down into the whale carcass. It's massive conical teeth slice through the decomposing ribs like butter, causing rotten organs to spill out. The Livyatan swallows them whole, satiating its hunger.
A huge shadow appears from the distance, the Megalodon. Not quick to give up its newfound territory, the Livyatan approaches the challenging Megalodon. The shark and the whale circle around each other, waiting for their opponent to make a move. The Livyatan makes the first attack, and launches a massive charge at the Megalodon, and rams into it attempting to send the shark into tonic immobility, but it is far too large, realizing this it quickly slashes its teeth at the sharks flank. The Megalodon makes a tight turn and then slices off the Livyatan dorsal fin. With blood drawn in the water, there was no way out, they were now locked in a battle to the death.
The Megalodon dives deep, over a mile into pitch black darkness. The Livyatan tries to echolocate it but it doesn’t work over such large distances. Turning it's pointed nose towards the surface, the Megalodon reaches a top speed of twenty three miles an hour, its eyes roll back in its head and its pinkish gums with rows of serrated teeth ready to bite into warm flesh. Desperately trying to find the shark, the whale tries turning its head around to see where the shark will launch its next attack. Then quickly ascending from the abyss, the Megalodon impacts the Livyatan with a resounding “BOOM!”. This sends both creatures’ bodies completely out of the air, breaching straight through the surface. They come back down with a “CRACKK!” as they slam into the ocean again.
The Livyatan had received multiple broken ribs and internal bleeding from the impact. Seething with anger, the Livyatan tries to get more space between itself and the shark to prepare for another ram attack. The shark gets to top speed once more, targeting the Livyatan. Turning around its massive body, the Livyatan accelerates into the opposite direction of the shark. Approaching each other with both their mouths agape at top speed, they slightly turn and bite down on each other's pectoral fins… before the sudden change in direction and speed sends them spinning uncontrollably away from each other. The shark and the whale, now lie disoriented from the attack. The Livyatan recovers first, it heads toward the unconscious Megalodon with its teeth ready to bite into the sharks midsection.
The Livyatan crunches through and rips off a large piece of shark hide, awakening the shark. The Megalodon grabs the Livyatan by the head and squeezes the front section of it, sending oily blood pouring into the water from the massive wound. Thrashing around its head, the shark holds onto the Livyatan’s skull attempting to cause even more damage. The whale curls up its tail and then smacks the shark on the head, causing it to let go. Seeing the opportunity, the whale seizes the shark by the gills and rips off two of them. The Megalodon twists its body, and just barely misses the Livyatan's tail, biting down onto the warm ocean water. The Livyatan prepares for another ram and tries to get distance between the shark and itself. The faster shark chases down the Livyatan, and as the whale turns around, the Megalodon rams into the whale with its snout, and flips it over. The shark then swiftly slices off the Livyatan's tail. The Megalodon then turns its head and sinks its teeth into the overturned whales chest region. The upside down whale bleeds out and drowns as the shark feasts on its body.
The whale’s lungs collapses and its body goes limp as the shark severs the whale’s spinal cord and liquifies its organs, with a twenty ton psi bite. Chunks of blood, bone and flesh cloud the water, spreading over hundreds of square feet, as much surface area as a football field. The bubbles from the whale's dying breath rise to the ocean surface. Some curious dolphins and sharks arrive at the scene, but they keep their distance as the greatest apex predator in history eats her dead rival. All that is left of the most epic prehistoric battle the world has ever seen… are some skeleton remains of the Livyatan swarming with scavengers, sinking to the ocean floor as the Megalodon swims off in search of new prey.
With an opponent almost 1.5-2x the weight, which outclasses the Livyatan in almost every single aspect, except intelligence which doesn't really matter that much, doesn’t help the whale. Sharks and whales of similar size have similar sized brains and intelligence, lamnid sharks such as Megalodon are intelligent (to an extent) and severely underrated. For example, one study in 1963 found that sharks could learn and remember as well as mammals. As stated by paleontologists, Livyatan was meant to take on smaller prey (5th source) while Megalodon was built to take on larger prey and could mortally wound fin or blue whales. Megalodon also outlasted Livyatan, making it go extinct, which is also something important to consider. :)
Winner-Megalodon
Sources:
Inspiration from Scified.com prehistoric animal battle discussions.
Comments for discussion on this topic or battle, feedback and questions are absolutely welcome and encouraged! I would like to see others' perspectives and viewpoints on this or any interesting thoughts you may have. Thank You!
Also please try to check the sources, and don't make up unsupported speculation claims. Any comments that do this, or try to give misinformation will be deleted.
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