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Dr.
Ciampaglio holds the fossilized remains of an Edestus jawbone, an
unusual prehistoric shark
thought to have had a “wheel” of teeth in a
circular pattern, found in Kentucky in 2011.
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Prehistoric
Shark Expert to visit Darke County Parks
Darke County Parks is excited to welcome Dr. Charles “Chuck” Ciampaglio
to the Nature Center at noon on February 6th to discuss his fascination
with all things SHARKS! Ciampaglio is a doctor of paleontology, a
professor of earth and environmental sciences at Wright State
University-Lake Campus, and was featured on the 2012 Discovery Channel
“Shark Week” episode “Sharkzilla” as the expert on megalodon, which
means “big tooth.” It was the largest shark to ever live reaching the
size of a semi-truck and trailer. Megalodon lived 2-15 million years
ago and is known to have eaten whales. Its teeth were the size of a
human hand, and its mouth was large enough to swallow a small boat.
Ciampaglio is one of the only scientists in the US actively studying
prehistoric sharks of North America, and he has lead paleontological
digs everywhere from Wyoming to the Carolinas, bringing students with
him whenever he can. Shark teeth are commonly unearthed on these digs.
Ciampaglio said, “Teeth are the business end of any vertebrate, and
nowhere in the animal kingdom will you find a greater range of tooth
designs” than in sharks. “They contain the record of life on earth
through their form and function” because they have been around for some
400 million years.
He is excited to share not only about megalodon, but about all kinds of
other prehistoric sharks he has studied. He intends to tell visitors
everything they wanted to know about sharks but were afraid to ask.
This lecture is free to the public. For more information about this
program or any other Park District program or to register, please give
the Nature Center a call at (937) 548-0165.
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