Megalodons, which went extinct 3.6 million years ago, are believed to have grown to lengths of 50 feet. | Credit: Alex Boersma/PNAS

EPSS Professor Aradhna Tripati is co-leader in a project across UCLA, UC Merced, and William Paterson University that discovered that the largest marine predator that ever lived was no cold-blooded killer, but in fact warm-blooded.

UCLA Newsroom writes that the project, which analyzed isotopes in the tooth enamel of the long-extinct ancient shark, "sheds light on the warm-blooded animal’s ability to regulate its body temperature — and might help explain why it went extinct."

Read more about the megalodon's warm-blooded demise, and its implications for understanding current and future environmental changes, through UCLA Newsroom here.

You can also find their discovery featured in BBC, Reuters, Smithsonian Magazine, Discover Magazine, The Times, Forbes, Science News, and National Geographic, among many other news outlets!