Megalodon is about 3.4× longer by these reference values.
Megalodon uses a 15.3 m upper reference, compared with 4.45 m for Shortfin mako. Megalodon's weight reference is about 84× heavier.
ON THE SAME SCALE
Human. Bus. Whale.
Pick your reference.
Length bars use upper comparison values and do not show body depth, tail proportion or typical adult size. A long thresher tail, for example, does not equal whale-shark body mass.
THE NUMBERS
Side by side.
WHAT THE DATA CAN SAY
Size is not the whole animal.
Length and weight
Megalodon is represented by evidence-based upper estimate 14.1–15.3 m / 46–50 ft; Shortfin mako by reported to about 4.45 m / 14.6 ft. No complete skeleton exists; 15.3 m is an evidence-based maximum from museum specimens, not a tape measurement. Record length and mass do not necessarily describe the same individual.
Bite evidence
Megalodon: Finite-element scaling produced a range, not a directly measured bite. Shortfin mako: No directly comparable maximum bite-force estimate is used.
Living versus extinct
At least one animal is known from fossils. Fossil length, weight and bite estimates depend on which living analogues and scaling equations researchers choose.
Ecology changes the matchup
Nearly every whole-body number is reconstructed from teeth and comparisons with living sharks. Speed is its signature; the biggest animals are unusual and hard to verify.
TRACE THE CLAIMS