A fossil-mad teen in England has discovered a huge tooth from a giant prehistoric megalodon shark.
13-year-old Ben Evans unearthed the predator’s ten-million-year-old gnasher with his dad Jason Evans on Walton-on-the-Naze Beach, Essex, in late July.
The schoolboy had previously collected around 100 small shark teeth during trips to the sandy shoreline, which is a known spot for prehistoric finds. Jason said the Ben had developed a natural interest in fossil hunting from an early age after first visiting the Jurassic Coastline, straddling Devon and Dorset.
And he had spent over two days searching for new fossils before striking upon the roughly six-inch tall tooth in a small hole in the early morning.
Experts later confirmed the tooth belonged to a Megalodon—the world’s largest shark measuring up to 18 meters—which became extinct 3.6 million years ago.
“I was completely shocked,” Ben admitted. “I didn’t expect it. I’ve watched people on YouTube finding them in places like Florida, but I never thought I would find one in England.”
“There were three big rocks nearby, and I found it in a small hole. I had to crawl through the hole to pick it up. It was just there, it wasn’t covered by anything.”
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His father said the pair had gone to Walton-on-the-Naze last weekend and had walked several miles a day until finding the incredible fossil.
“We took it up to the Essex Wildlife Trust—they had a quick look, took a photo, and assessed it would be about ten million years old,” said Jason Evans. “Those little ones are quite easy to find, you just need to have good eyesight and time it correctly with the tides.”
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