Film Paleontology

What ‘The Meg’ gets wrong — and right — about megalodon sharks

A paleobiologist helps Science News separate fact from fiction in the film

screenshot from The Meg

SHARK STUDY  A megalodon shark swims past a polycarbonate “cage” containing a biological oceanographer, played by Li Bingbing, in The Meg. 

Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures

By Carolyn Gramling

This article is only available to Science News subscribers.

Subscribers, enter your e-mail address to access our archives.

Not a subscriber?

Science News is a nonprofit.

Support us by subscribing now.

More Stories from Science News on Paleontology

  1. illuistration of a pterosaur with opposable thumbs
    Paleontology

    ‘Monkeydactyl’ may be the oldest known creature with opposable thumbs

    By Maria Temming
  2. tropical rainforest in Colombia
    Paleontology

    The dinosaur-killing asteroid impact radically altered Earth’s tropical forests

    By Carolyn Gramling
  3. reconstruction of an ancient eagle shark
    Paleontology

    An ancient shark’s weird fins helped it glide like a manta ray

    By Carolyn Gramling
  4. illustration of an anteosaur chasing a Moschognathus
    Paleontology

    An ancient hippo-sized reptile may have been surprisingly agile

    By Carolyn Wilke
  5. Muusoctopus johnsonianus octopus on the seafloor
    Paleontology

    Predatory octopuses were drilling into clamshells at least 75 million years ago

    By Carolyn Gramling
  6. illustration of Plateosaurus
    Paleontology

    Climate change helped some dinosaurs migrate to Greenland

    By Anushree Dave
  7. red ochre handprints in a cave
    Earth

    A magnetic field reversal 42,000 years ago may have contributed to mass extinctions

    By Carolyn Gramling
  8. illustration of steppe mammoths
    Genetics

    The oldest animal DNA ever recovered reveals mammoths’ evolution

    By Erin Garcia de Jesús

From the Nature Index

Paid Content