SHARKS NOT IMPACTED BY THE ASTEROID THAT KILLED THE DINOSAURS

It's a case of Jaws 1 - Jurassic Park 0, as research has revealed that sharks were largely unaffected by the asteroid that slammed into the Earth some 66 million years ago, which is said to have wiped out the dinosaurs.

Swedish scientists have been investigating ancient sharks teeth and found that it shows that their diversity remained relatively constant across this extinction level event period.

The team scanned over 1,230 teeth from nine species of shark, which spanned a time period of an astonishing 27 million years.

The Jaws vs Jurassic Park has raged for decades but it looks like the Great White has the edge when comes to surviving asteroids!

This ambitious research is the first ever global investigation of teeth shapes in multiple shark groups across the end-Cretaceous mass extinction timeline.

The study has been published in PLOS Biology and is entitled, Tooth morphology elucidates shark evolution across the end-Cretaceous mass extinction. Discover more about the study here: Tooth morphology elucidates shark evolution across the end-Cretaceous mass extinction

Sharks may have swum out of that particular predicament unscathed, but that doesn't mean they havent faced other potential survival issues throughout their history. The biggest came almost 19 million years ago, but no one is clear why: How Sharks Faced An Extinction Level Event

And, arguably, what with global warming, the acidification of the ocean, the disappearance of coral reefs, sharks caught as by catch and for shark fins, they've never faced a more precarious moment in their history than right now.

In fact, it is estimated that over 300 sharks and rays face extinction: Over 300 Sharks And Rays Face Extinction

Words by Dean Newman

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