New Study Finds 41% of Americans Believe Dinosaurs and Humans Coexisted — But Here’s What Science Says

A poll from YouGov reveals that up to 41% of Americans believe that dinosaurs and humans once coexisted. 14% said “definitely”, and 27% said “probably.” These surprising results reflect how cultural beliefs, social influence, and a lack of literacy can shape misunderstandings, even though decades of scientific research have contradicted them.

Homo sapiens, or modern humans, are estimated to have only existed for 200,000 to 300,000 years, but the non-Avian dinosaurs went extinct nearly 66 million years ago. Even if the poll refers to hominin species, and not just Homo sapiens, the gap between is still over 60 million years separating us from the last T. rex that ever lived.

What the Poll Really Reveals

The YouGov survey asked whether respondents think humans and dinosaurs similar to Jurassic movies like T-rex and long neck, have lived together. Up to 41% of Americans thought they did so; however, the average number actually went up when comparing religious individuals with non-believers.

Several more studies have confirmed the inconsistencies in beliefs because most of those who think dinosaurs and humans coexisted also acknowledge the fact that dinosaurs have been extinct for 66 million years. This clearly shows that religious interpretations and societal belief systems could easily override scientific facts.

Read more: YouGov

Why People Believe Humans and Dinosaurs Overlapped

New Discovery Suggests Dinosaurs Coexisted with Early Humans

This is not the only case where people are thought to believe humans and dinosaurs’ time on Earth overlapped. There is an idea often called young Earth creationism, which states that the Earth is only thousands of years old. Stemming from this belief, some infer that dinosaurs were created alongside humans.

Additionally, pop culture such as movies depicting what the existence of dinosaurs and humans together looks like, blurs the line between entertainment and scientific fact. The media representations, especially with how popular Jurassic movies are and other dinosaur films, combined with weak literacy about history, evolution, and geology, reinforce the confusion among the public.

The Scientific Timeline: Separated by Millions of Years

There is no denying that scientists have found fossils of different types of dinosaurs. But with the improvement of technology, we were able to date them and found that non-avian dinosaurs existed about 66 million to 245 million years ago.

We also have great evidence about how most of them died during the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event that was most likely caused by an asteroid from the Jupiter belt. Which means that humans and dinosaurs have existed for tens of millions of years apart.

Every single discovery of homo sapiens fossils dates it back to only a few thousand to hundreds of thousands, but never millions of years. Along with no evidence of remains of humans and dinosaurs together or near each other, this timeline supports the scientific idea that they did not coexist.

Read more: Wikipedia

Why This Misbelief Matters

Believing the concept that dinosaurs and humans once coexisted on this planet might seem funny at first, but it highlights growing issues with science literacy and education. Although it is understandable how difficult to comprehend our complicated history, combined with the majestic existence of dinosaurs.

However, think of it on a broader scale, if the scientific community has a breakthrough, the educational illiteracy issue could hinder the public from trusting or even appreciating the discovery itself.

The more people distrust experts about something as fundamental as our geological history, the more likely they will dismiss warning signs from scientists such as climate change, vaccines, or evolution itself.

Evolution of Dinosaurs in 10 Minutes

Author's Final Thoughts

Even though the polls show that people believe in a misconception or an illiterate idea that dinosaurs and humans coexisted, science has repeatedly proven they did not. But understanding how this fallacy persisted in the first place is the bigger problem. Science, culture, religious beliefs, and education all intersect, and this is why it is important to strengthen scientific literacy before myths become mainstream truths.

Read next: If Dinosaurs Really Existed, Wouldn’t Their Bones Be Everywhere? — Here’s How Scientists Explain It