Megalodon: The Monster That Lives

I’m not sure how many of you guys are fans of Shark Week or how many of you have heard of the catastrophe, the documentary Megalodon: The Monster That Lives, which premiered on the first day of Shark Week last August (2013).  I’m a marine science major at Stockton with a geology minor, and after this documentary aired, I cannot tell you how many people asked me if megalodons are alive and prowling the oceans today.  

Let’s start from the beginning.  Last year for Shark Week, there was a great deal of hype around this megalodon documentary that was going to kick off the week; the documentary I previously mentioned.  As soon as this program began, I was skeptical of it.  I’m not quite sure what exactly it was about the documentary that made me hesitant to believe it initially, but I think it was just how the marine biologists and people in the documentary spoke about things.  Vague I know.  Basically what happens in the documentary is a marine biologist, Collin Drake, is called in to find out what happened to a fishing boat that sank of the South African coast.  However, when Drake is initially introduced in the film, all it says is his name, Collin Drake, and underneath it just says Marine Biologist; there’s no indication of where he works or where he received his degree in marine biology.  Also, I would think that a so called expert that is always called in to handle these kinds of situations, as Drake claims to be, would likely have a doctorate degree from somewhere.  Most experts in a field hold doctorate degrees.

 Regardless, Drake and his team go on to use different techniques to discover what this huge predator is that they are trying to find.  One of his teammates, Mike Bhana, has spent his life filming and tagging all kinds of species of sharks all over the world and is therefore an expert at underwater photography.  They set up underwater cameras and use a seal decoy to try and attract a very large great white shark commonly spotted in the area that is nicknamed “Submarine”.  However, the accounts of Submarine used as evidence in the documentary are all witness, anecdotal accounts of the shark.  Drake relies on testimonials as his evidence that this shark is around.  Testimonials are a sign of pseudoscience, as discussed in the textbook. 

Later on in the documentary, another marine biologist, Madelyn Joubert, is brought in as another expert who has been researching predatory shark behaviors for the past nine years, according to the film.  However, same as Drake, she is introduced with her name and underneath it only says marine biologist.  An expert who has been doing research for nine years that doesn’t have a degree shown or an identification of an institution she’s working for seems odd to me.   One of the other important signs of pseudoscience is the appeal to false authority.  Both marine biology experts brought in to work on this case are not marine biologists.  They are actors.  Therefore, there is no authority at all, let alone a false authority.

Another sign of pseudoscience is extraordinary claims without convincing evidence.  All of the evidence used in this documentary to prove the existence of the still living megalodon is fake.  The first piece of evidence is given by a shark eye volunteer, working in a lookout tower above the beach to spot sharks in the area.  She gives her testimonial about what she saw and then has a photo of the dorsal fin of the shark near a whale carcass. 

                                                                                                          http://www.businessinsider.com/discovery-channel-fake-megalodon-documentary-2013-8

The next photo evidence used was from World War II when German u-boats were apparently using ports in Africa.  There’s a photo of two u-boats with a shark dorsal fin in the background that had never been noticed before. 

                                                                                                            http://www.businessinsider.com/discovery-channel-fake-megalodon-documentary-2013-8

Footage and photos from Hawaii were found of a whale with the back half of its body gone with some of its internal organs hanging out.  According to the blog of a marine science student in Hawaii, nothing like this has ever washed up on the beach anywhere in the islands.  

                                                                                                            http://www.businessinsider.com/discovery-channel-fake-megalodon-documentary-2013-8

Footage from an underwater camera near Chile is used that shows a large creature with fins swimming in the background of the frame.  The Brazilian Coast Guard apparently supplied footage of a rescue that shows a very large creature swimming directly under the person being rescued in the water.  Another important piece of evidence in the documentary is that a megalodon tooth was carbon dated to be only 10,000 years old when it is believed the megalodons went extinct approximately 2 million years ago. (All of this footage can be seen in the documentary link posted below.)    

If you want very thorough reasoning on why none of this evidence is legitimate and why megalodons cannot exist in today’s oceans, go to this website and read what this gentleman has to say.

http://www.fossilguy.com/topics/is-megalodon-alive/

This site is not the only one I was on that indicated the fabrication of everything in this documentary.  There are plenty more articles and sites to explore to find out more information about it.  Just simply google the documentary, and you will be overwhelmed with things to read about it.  Here’s another article about it: http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/08/06/did-discovery-channel-run-a-fake-documentary-during-shark-week-network-defends-its-decision-to-theblaze/

And one more:

http://entertainment.time.com/2013/08/07/discovery-channel-provokes-outrage-with-fake-shark-week-documentary/

Also, at the end of the film, these disclaimers are given:

NONE OF THE INSTITUTIONS OR AGENCIES THAT APPEAR IN THE FILM ARE AFFILIATED WITH IT IN ANY WAY, NOR HAVE APPROVED ITS CONTENTS.

THOUGH CERTAIN EVENTS AND CHARACTERS IN THIS FILM HAVE BEEN DRAMATIZED, SIGHTINGS OF “SUBMARINE” CONTINUE TO THIS DAY.

MEGALODON WAS A REAL SHARK. LEGENDS OF GIANT SHARKS PERSIST ALL OVER THE WORLD. THERE IS STILL DEBATE ABOUT WHAT THEY MAY BE.

These disclaimers are followed by, “The identity of the species remains inconclusive.”  

I lost a great deal of respect for the Discovery Channel after they showed this documentary.  I've gotten into debates with people about whether or not the information on here is true or false, and I've heard some interesting arguments.  I’d definitely like to hear anyone else who has thoughts on this too!

Here’s a link to the actual documentary for anyone who hasn’t seen it and would like to!

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1c51na_shark-week-2013-megalodon-the-monster-shark-lives-discovery-animals-nature-documentary_animals