How many people can say their Covid-19 hobby turned into an ancient shark tooth discovery?<\/p>\n
This 10-year-old can.<\/p>\n
Miette Lansell was fossil hunting with her dad in Beaumaris when she found a massive megalodon tooth \u2013 belonging to the largest species of shark that ever lived.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was looking for fossils and a megalodon shark is really big,\u201d said Miette.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s like the size of a bus.\u201d<\/p>\n
The ginormous, prehistoric sharks measured 10 to 20 metres long and lived between 4 to 15 million years ago. <\/p>\n
Miette and her dad, Christopher Lansell, began looking for fossils during Melbourne\u2019s Covid-19 lockdowns.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was trying to think of things for my daughter to do and so we started fossil hunting down on the Mornington Peninsula,\u201d Mr Lansell said.<\/p>\n
The pair, with nothing but a popsicle tooth for a shovel and an Easter basket to hold their finds, discovered their \u201cbest thing by far\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI saw a teeny tiny bit of grey and I dug for it. Then I found (it). <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been fossil hunting for quite a while now. I started when I was about 4ish, 5ish (years old).<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s really cool, I love this tooth \u2026 it\u2019s very very rare.\u201d<\/p>\n
The pair made the discovery in 2024, at the Beaumaris Bay fossil site in Port Phillip Bay. <\/p>\n
Melbourne Museum senior curator of vertebrate palaeontology Erich Fitzgerald said the tooth was \u201cunusually complete and well preserved compared to every other megalodon tooth found at Beaumaris\u201d. <\/p>\n
\u201cMegalodon teeth fossils like this one are quite commonly found in the southeastern states of the US, like North and South Carolina. But they are comparatively rare in Australia,\u201d Dr Fitzgerald said. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe megalodon was enormous compared to all other sharks \u2026 It would have been a monstrous animal capable of feeding on almost anything smaller than it, and really big adults could have preyed on whales.\u201d<\/p>\n
Miette\u2019s proud father, who is the scientific artist behind St Kilda\u2019s scale replica of the Solar System, said the young palaeontologist has a \u201csixth sense\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cIs quite bizarre actually, we\u2019ll go out (fossil) hunting and no kids will find any fossils \u2026 then there\u2019s Miette who\u2019s got about 15.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s got the knack.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dr Fitzgerald said the discovery \u201ccould be scientifically quite significant\u201d and encouraged the pair to contact the Melbourne Museum.<\/p>\n
For now, Miette is happy knowing she\u2019s got one of the best show and tell stories ever.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the best thing by far. Definitely.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"How many people can say their Covid-19 hobby turned into an ancient shark tooth discovery? This 10-year-old can.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":65741,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[81682,81699,81718,81726,81674,81680,17327,81697,81671,81688,81727,36656,81729,81728,81724,81705,81711,81672,81707,54317,81709,81694,81716,81717,81715,81679,23,81684,81725,81713,4693,81677,81675,81686,28795,81696,81712,37085,50878,42223,81698,14789,81722,81683,81678,260,81676,81703,81690,56632,81685,81701,66779,81687,81693,71514,81723,13877,568,38272,81708,81681,39565,37554,81692,81710,81673,81704,81689,48346,37068,81691,47592,81695,81720,81719,36628,81721,81731,81730,81714,81700,38773,81706,81702,32466,31772],"class_list":["post-65740","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-melbourne","tag-prehistoric-fossil","tag-s-covid-19-lockdowns","tag-s-proud-father","tag-s-scale-replica","tag-10-to-20-metres","tag-10-year-old-girl","tag-17327","tag-5ish","tag-a-sixth-sense","tag-a-10-year-old-melbourne-girl","tag-a-beaumaris-beach","tag-a-bus","tag-a-massive-megalodon-tooth","tag-a-megalodon-shark","tag-a-monstrous-animal","tag-a-popsicle-tooth","tag-a-rare-megalodon-shark-tooth","tag-a-shovel","tag-a-teeny-tiny-bit","tag-about-15","tag-about-4ish","tag-all-other-sharks","tag-almost-anything","tag-an-ancient-shark-tooth-discovery","tag-an-easter-basket","tag-any-fossils","tag-australia","tag-beaumaris","tag-between-4-to-15-million-years","tag-big-adults","tag-child","tag-christopher-lansell","tag-dr-fitzgerald","tag-every-other-megalodon-tooth","tag-experts","tag-fossil","tag-fossil-hunting","tag-fossils","tag-grey","tag-her-dad","tag-how-many-people","tag-hunting","tag-massive","tag-megalodon-teeth-fossils","tag-melb-beach","tag-melbourne","tag-melbourne-museum-senior-curator","tag-miette","tag-mr-lansell","tag-my-daughter","tag-no-kids","tag-north-and-south-carolina","tag-pair","tag-port-phillip-bay","tag-prehistoric-sharks","tag-quite-a-while","tag-rare-megalodon-shark-tooth","tag-shark","tag-st-kilda","tag-stories","tag-the-beaumaris-bay-fossil-site","tag-the-best-show","tag-the-best-thing","tag-the-discovery","tag-the-ginormous","tag-the-knack","tag-the-largest-species","tag-the-megalodon","tag-the-melbourne-museum-for","tag-the-mornington-peninsula","tag-the-pair","tag-the-scientific-artist","tag-the-size","tag-the-solar-system","tag-the-southeastern-states","tag-the-tooth","tag-the-us","tag-the-young-palaeontologist","tag-their-best-thing","tag-their-covid-19-hobby","tag-their-finds","tag-this-10-year-old-can-miette-lansell","tag-this-one","tag-this-tooth","tag-vertebrate-palaeontology-erich-fitzgerald","tag-whales","tag-years"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65740","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65740"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65740\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65741"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65740"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65740"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65740"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}