Little Girl Makes Find of the Century, You Won’t Believe What She Stumbled Upon!

What a find Molly, I’m sure you will never forget that one.

A 5-inch-long Otodus megalodon tooth from a shark that lived millions of years ago was Molly Sampson’s favorite Christmas gift.

According to Molly’s mother, Alicia Sampson, the 9-year-old Maryland girl and her older sister, Natalie, requested and received insulated waders and fossil sifters to go shark tooth hunting near the Calvert Cliffs in the Chesapeake Bay.

After putting on their new waders, they went hunting with their dad, Bruce Sampson, around 9:30 a.m. It was low tide, so the kids could go out further to look for fossils. Molly, who hopes to be a paleontologist when she grows up, announced matter-of-factly that she would search for a meg — a massive shark from the Miocene Epoch. She has always been fascinated by them.

Then, less than half an hour later, she noticed something strange in knee-deep water.

During an interview, Molly says, “I was like, ‘Oh, my, that’s the biggest tooth I’ve ever seen!'” She reached in and grabbed it, and dad said I was shrieking.

As Alicia says, Bruce has been fossil hunting since he was a child and has taken his daughters with him since they were young as well. He also dreams of finding giant teeth, but his largest find – about 3 inches – looks like a “baby tooth” compared to Molly’s.

In less than a week after Molly’s discovery, the family took the fossil to the Calvert Marine Museum in Solomons, Md.

Stephen Godfrey, curator of paleontology at the museum, and Molly’s former science teacher at vacation Bible school, says staff were disassembling a shark exhibit when they arrived.

It wasn’t the Sampsons’ first treasure, but it was the biggest.

It’s a spectacular specimen, Godfrey says. It’s probably the largest specimen found along the Calvert Cliffs, and it might be a “once-in-a-lifetime find.”

It is hard to find megalodon teeth this big in the Calvert Marine Museum’s collection, even though the Calvert Cliffs are famous for fossil production.

According to Godfrey, the tooth was from the upper left jaw of a megalodon, which probably weighed 45 to 50 feet and lived about 15 million years ago. With its specialized, serrated teeth, the shark scavenged whales and dolphins as well as actively hunted them. It was a macropredator, meaning it couldn’t swallow its prey whole.

“It evolved those kinds of teeth so that it could cut away pieces, just like great white sharks do,” Godfrey says. “They chew the carcass of their prey rather than swallowing it whole.”

Molly’s big discovery should inspire other kids to explore the natural world and take an interest in science, Godfrey hopes.

According to her mom, based on the emails she has received so far, it seems to be working.

“It’s really cool that she encouraged other kids to get outside and explore,” Alicia says.

With her new waders, Molly has already been out fossil hunting again a few times since Christmas, adding to her collection of over 400 teeth.

 

Sources: NPR