Shark Teeth Found in Whale Fossils Reveal How Sharks Fed 5 Million Years Ago

Shark Teeth Found in Whale Fossils Reveal How Sharks Fed 5 Million Years Ago

Learn how whale fossils and embedded shark teeth reveal feeding behavior and scavenging in the Early Pliocene North Sea ecosystem.

Whale fossils reveal evidence of ancient shark attacks

A broken tooth lodged deep in bone can outlast the animal that lost it. In two whale skulls from Belgium, those fragments have done exactly that, preserving a moment of violence from roughly five million years ago. The skulls, both from the Early Pliocene, carry more than scratches. Embedded within them are pieces of shark teeth, snapped off during feeding. That detail matters. Bite marks alone can be ambiguous, but a tooth fragment ties predato…