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. Megalodon shark illustration
    Paleontology

    Cannibalism in the womb may have helped megalodon sharks become giants

    By Carolyn Gramling
  2. Ancient ostracod species mating
    Animals

    A tiny crustacean fossil contains roughly 100-million-year-old giant sperm

    By Curtis Segarra
  3. illustration on an ancient Lystrosaurus
    Paleontology

    Ancient Lystrosaurus tusks may show the oldest signs of a hibernation-like state

    By Susan Milius
  4. ichthyosaur fossil
    Paleontology

    This ichthyosaur died after devouring a creature nearly as long as itself

    By Maria Temming
  5. Crocodylus checchiai illustration
    Paleontology

    An ancient skull hints crocodiles swam from Africa to the Americas

    By Carolyn Wilke
  6. Illustration of what Microraptor looked like
    Paleontology

    This dinosaur may have shed its feathers like modern songbirds

    By Carolyn Gramling
  7. soft-shelled dinosaur egg fossil
    Paleontology

    Fossil discoveries suggest the earliest dinosaurs laid soft-shelled eggs

    By Jack J. Lee
  8. illustration of crocodile ancestors walking on two legs
    Life

    Fossil footprints show some crocodile ancestors walked on two legs

    By Carolyn Gramling

From the Nature Index

Paid Content