Mid-Week Mini: Are Sharks Older Than Trees?

In this week’s Mid-Week Mini Episode, we talk about how sharks are older than trees.

Imagine the Earth a long time ago. You might be imagining a green earth filled with trees. And in the sea, you probably think of sharks as ancient, but not that ancient. Like, maybe “older than dinosaurs” ancient. Which is true. But here’s the part that sounds fake.

Sharks are older than trees.

And I don’t mean “older than oak trees” or “older than Christmas trees.” I mean trees as a concept. Trees as a thing that exists on land. Sharks were already doing their shark thing when Earth was basically just rocks, ferns, and vibes.

Sharks first appeared in the oceans around 450 million years ago, during the late Ordovician period. At that point, life was mostly hanging out in the water, and sharks were already evolving cartilage skeletons, replaceable teeth, and that whole “top of the food chain, no notes” attitude.

Now trees. Trees show up much later.

The first true trees don’t appear until about 350 million years ago, during the late Devonian period. Before that, the land was covered in low-growing plants, mosses, and weird prehistoric greenery that looks like it belongs in a Doctor Seuss book. No tall trunks. No forests. No shade. Just ankle-high plants and the world’s most boring hikes.

Which means for roughly 100 million years, sharks existed in a world with no trees.

Let that sink in.

For perspective, 100 million years ago from today, dinosaurs were still alive. That’s how much time we’re talking about.

And sharks didn’t just show up early and then disappear. They figured out a design that worked and stuck with it. Cartilage instead of bone makes them lighter and more flexible. Rows of teeth mean they never worry about dental insurance. Some species can sense electrical signals from other animals, which is basically underwater superpowers.

Trees, meanwhile, were still trying to figure out how to stand up without falling over.

Once trees did arrive, they changed everything. Roots stabilized soil. Forests altered the atmosphere. Oxygen levels increased. Insects got bigger. Animals followed. Eventually, land life exploded into the world we recognize today.

But through all of that – ice ages, mass extinctions, continents drifting around like lost luggage – sharks just kept going.

To put it another way: sharks were swimming around long before squirrels existed. Long before birds. Long before grass. Long before the concept of wood.

If you’ve ever been scared of a shark, that fear is deeply, biologically reasonable. You’re not afraid of a fish. You’re afraid of a survivor that has outlasted nearly everything else on this planet.

Trees came and went. Species rose and fell. Civilizations appeared, argued online, and disappeared.

Sharks? Sharks were already here. And odds are, they’ll still be here long after we’re gone.

The internet says it’s true.