Sharks Are Older Than Trees
Sharks have been swimming for 50 million years longer than trees have existed.
Fact-checked · 1 verified sourceReviewed by the CurioVault curator · 8 October 2026 · Last updated 7 October 2026 · Editorial standards
Sharks are older than trees. By about 50 million years.
The earliest definitive shark fossils date to around 400 million years ago in the Devonian Period. They were scaly, small, and nothing like the great white, but they had the same basic blueprint: cartilage skeleton, replaceable teeth, and electroreception.
Trees did not exist yet. The first tree-like plants, Archaeopteris, appeared around 350 million years ago. Before that, land was covered in low mosses, ferns, and giant fungi called Prototaxites that stood 8 metres tall.
That means sharks survived four mass extinctions before a single tree grew. They were already 50 million years old when the first forests formed, 200 million years old before dinosaurs, and 400 million years old today.
Sources & Further Reading
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