Glossopetra, megalodon and co teeth Painting

Prehistoric sharks left behind many, many, teeth that litter every continent except Antarctica. People have found them since ancient times in very unusual places, for example, in the mountains. This contributed to the birth of amazing legends, in which the sharks themselves did not find a place. Residents of the Mediterranean have found fossilized teeth of prehistoric sharks since Antiquity. But they did not know their origin. So the inhabitants of Malta considered them Glossopetra, or "serpent's tongues" (because of their forked root), which remained after the poisonous snakes turned to stone by St. Paul. Before the beginning of the Cenozoic era, the territory of modern Ukraine was covered by the Tethys ocean. At the end of the Paleogene period, the Carpathians began to form and emerge from the water, and the majestic Tethys turned into a shallow sea that still covered most of the Ukrainian lands. The underwater past has left behind many interesting finds. The teeth of Megalodon, the largest predatory fish in history, are one of them. Although Otodus Megalodon is the largest, it is not the only representative of the giant-toothed shark family. His relatives Otodus Auriculatus sailed through Ukraine 30 million years ago. It was at least 10 meters long and had teeth up to 13 centimeters long. This is evidenced by finds in the Luhansk region and the Crimea. The teeth of the ancestor of the megalodon - the Cretolamna shark, which appeared on earth more than 100 million years ago - were also found in Crimea. Every paleo artwork is hand drawn watercolor illustration made with paints Horadam Schmincke and Ukrainian fine art supplies brand Rósa Gallery on a french watercolor paper 300 g/m².