Boy who went to scout for shells on the beach finds million-years-old fossil - Details!

A six-year-old boy who went to collect shells on a beach in England got extremely lucky as he chanced upon a very rare fossil.

Sammy Shelton found the 10cm-long (4in) tooth on Bawdsey beach in Suffolk during a bank holiday break. It has been confirmed as belonging to a megalodon - the largest shark that ever existed - by expert Prof Ben Garrod.

His dad Peter Shelton said Sammy was sleeping with it near his bed as he was "very attached to it". The pair, from Bradwell near Gorleston-on-Sea in Norfolk, were searching for fossils when they came across the giant shark's tooth

"Sammy was very excited as we'd seen fragments of shark teeth on the beach, but nothing as big and heavy as this," Mr Shelton said.

Researchers say the megalodon is 3 times larger than the Great White sharks found off the coast of England. At 46 to 67 feet long, these giant sharks lived on Earth 26 - 3.6 million years ago. They are also known as megalodons because of their huge teeth. Researchers say a well-developed megalodon can weigh up to 103 tons.

Marine researchers say that this type of shark has one of the strongest jaws and is one of the most aggressive predators on earth.

Sammy's excitement has been shared with his friends at school, and he took the tooth to his beaver cubs group, after which he was awarded his explorer badge, his father said. Sammy described the "massive" tooth as his best-ever find, and said it was just laying there on the sand and pebbles.

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