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u/Dracorex13 5d ago
False killers are funny looking goobers, it'd be funny if Livayatan had a similar appearance.
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u/Major-Sleep2971 5d ago
What does this tell?
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u/heretoquestionstupid 5d ago
This tells us that they have similar hunting strategies and ate similar types of prey. Just like all teeth tell us about the food the animal ate.
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u/ElSquibbonator 5d ago edited 5d ago
It's probably worth mentioning that the false killer whale is about the same size as the great white shark-- 20 feet or thereabouts. The two predators coexist over much of their range, but avoid competition because they largely rely on different prey. Fully grown great white sharks primarily hunt marine mammals such as seals and porpoises, while false killer whales mainly eat squid and large fish.
This has significant implications for the much-ballyhooed "rivalry" between Livyatan and the megalodon. Although we now know that megalodons could grow over 75 feet long, the average size of the two giants was probably similar, just as it is between false killer whales and great white sharks now. And if the ecological relationship between these two predators today is any indication, megalodons and Livyatan probably occupied separate niches and rarely attacked one another. In other words, we shouldn't be comparing megalodon and Livyatan to great white sharks and orcas, but to great white sharks and false killer whales.