Simi Valley Residents Featured in 25th Anniversary Shark Week "Sharkzilla" Episode
The last few years I've had several home remodeling projects managed by Sean Tohill of All Trades Ready Construction. Sean's a really nice guy and he and his team did some great work at my house.
Sean frequently mentioned his wife, Lisa, had a passion for unearthing fossils out in Bakersfield and that they spent many a weekend up there. But we never talked about it in detail as cabinetry, mirrors, tiles and bath fixtures represented the main topic at hand.
Two weeks ago he told me, "Make sure to watch 'Sharkzilla' on the Discovery Channel's 25th Anniversary Shark Week! You and the kids will get a kick out of it!" The Sharkzilla episode first aired this past Monday night. I recorded it and watched it the next day. HOLY MEGALADON! He didn't tell me that he and Lisa would be PROMINENTLY FEATURED in the show! They were great!
Shark Week 25th Anniversary sign and massive 6 foot tall megalodon fin temporarily on display at the Tohill residence in Wood Ranch!
Sharkzilla features the cast of Mythbusters and a team that constructed a MASSIVE 52 foot long megalodon shark that lived 15 million years ago. This gigantic creature wiith 8 foot wide mechanical jaws was brought to the sand next to the Ventura Pier to a cheering crowd.
So, where did Sean and Lisa Tohill come in? The Mythbusters team learned that the Tohills own an 85 acre White Whale Quarry in Bakersfield. Yes, 12 to 15 million years ago, most of what is Kern County today was part of the ocean back then. This area is home to the largest marine fossil bone bed in the world! And it is in this quarry they found the skeleton of a 15 million year old Miocene era whale...that was missing its head!
Mythbusters, with the help of the Tohills and other experts, sought to solve this prehistoric murder mystery...only a megalodon it seems could have bitten the entire head off of a such a large whale. Sure enough, they uncovered a megalodon tooth the size of a hand at the scene of the "crime." And where was the rest of the shark? Since sharks are made out of cartilage, no such luck. So they made an entire megalodon crafted based on the size of the tooth unearthed by the Tohills of Simi Valley!
Congratulations to the Tohills for their starring role in this great show! Be sure to visit their White Whale Quarry website at www.sharktoothhillfossils.com to learn more.
Learn more about Discovery's Shark Week at dsc.discovery.com/tv/shark-week. And visit the Buena Vista Museum of Natural History in Bakersfield, which contains the largest collection of Shark Tooth Hill Miocene Fossils in the world!