A 9-year-old girl is said to have made a once-in-a-lifetime discovery when she came upon an ancient fossil hiding under the water.
After unwrapping her presents on Christmas morning, and getting brand new insulated waders from Santa Claus, Molly Sampson and her family headed to the shore in Calvert Beach, Maryland in search of shark teeth.
Despite the freezing cold conditions, it was only about 10 degrees outside, Molly had her sights set on one thing.
"I'm looking for a Meg!" she said on the way there, her mother Alicia Sampson told CBS News, in reference to megalodon -- the biggest shark in the world that died out about 3.5 million years ago.
And then, it was a Christmas miracle. Shortly after wading into the cold waters of the Chesapeake Bay, Molly pulled out the once-in-a-lifetime find: a 5-inch megalodon tooth, as big as her hand.
"She told me she was wading in knee deep water when she saw it and dove in to get it," Sampson told CBS News. "She said she got her arms all wet, but it was so worth it."
Molly said it was a dream come true.
"I was so surprised," she told USA Today. "I thought I was dreaming. I didn't think it was real."
The family took the tooth to the Calvert Marine Museum, which confirmed the fossil's identity. The museum posted photos of Molly's miraculous find on Facebook.
Stephen Godfrey, curator of paleontology at the Calvert Marine Museum, told CBS News that the tooth belonged to the Otodus megalodon, "one of the largest, if not the largest marine macropredator the world has ever known," and estimated the shark that lost the tooth was between 45 and 50 feet long.
The tooth is likely some 15 million years-old, Godfrey told USA Today.
Research suggests the long-extinct megalodon shark reached lengths of between 50 feet and 65 feet. By comparison, the Great White Sharks of today max out at 20 feet long. The ancient shark lived roughly 23 to 3.6 million years ago in nearly every corner of the ocean, according to the Smithsonian Institution.
Related
Related
