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The megalodon was the apex predator of its day

05:46

Here & Now Newsroom

June 03, 2026

Kirk Johnson, Sant Director of the Smithsonian Institution’s National
Museum of Natural History, with the 52-foot-long model of an extinct Carcharocles megalodon shark, which hangs suspended over the museum’s Atrium and Ocean Terrace Cafés. The megalodon model was created by artist Gary Staab and his team
at Staab Studios, Inc. (Courtesy of Brittany M. Hance and James Di Loreto, Smithsonian Institution) — Kirk Johnson, Sant Director of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History, with the 52-foot-long model of an extinct Carcharocles megalodon shark, which hangs suspended over the museum’s Atrium and Ocean Terrace Cafés. The megalodon model was created by artist Gary Staab and his team at Staab Studios, Inc. (Courtesy of Brittany M. Hance and James Di Loreto, Smithsonian Institution)

The megalodon was the apex predator of its day, eating whatever it wanted and roaming Earth's oceans for millions of years. Some were four times the size of today's great whites.

Now, a scale model of the giant shark sits in the Smithsonian.

Curator Nick Pyenson joins Here & Now's Robin Young to talk about why Americans remain fascinated with megalodons.

(Courtesy of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History’s Office of Education and Outreach)

This segment aired on June 3, 2026.

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