Megalodon Waterhouse Hawkins Replica

Description

Megalodon Waterhouse Hawkins replica model is museum-quality polyurethane resin cast that measures 21.0 inches. Made in USA.

Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins (8 February 1807 – 27 January 1894) was an English sculptor and natural history artist renowned for his work on the life-size models of dinosaurs in the Crystal Palace Park in south London.

The dinosaur models, accurately made using the latest scientific knowledge, created a sensation at the time.

Megalodon meaning “big tooth”, is an extinct species of shark that lived approximately 23 to 3.6 million years ago (mya), during the Early Miocene to the Pliocene.

It was formerly thought to be a member of the family Lamnidae and a close relative of the great white shark (Carcharodon carcharias). However, Megalodon it is now classified into the extinct family Otodontidae, which diverged from the great white shark during the Early Cretaceous.

Its genus placement is still debated, authors placing it in either Carcharocles, Megaselachus, Otodus, or Procarcharodon. This is because transitional fossils have been found showing that Megalodon is the final chronospecies of a lineage of giant sharks originally of the genus Otodus which evolved during the Paleocene.

While Megalodon is regarded as one of the largest and most powerful predators to have ever lived. Megalodon is known from fragmentary remains, and its appearance and maximum size are uncertain.