How free can freedom of thought be? According to a recent poll, led by a flood of misinformation and conspiracy theories about dinosaurs, nearly half of Americans believe that dinosaurs still live somewhere on Earth.
The survey was commissioned by a company called Boat Rocker Studios to celebrate National Dinosaur Day on June 1. The survey surveyed 2,000 adult Americans and surprisingly found that four-tenths of Americans believe dinosaurs lived about 2,000 to 10,000 years ago. Even one in five people believe that dinosaurs went extinct only 100 years ago.
Another 54 percent believe dinosaurs lived only in Africa and North America; 30 percent of adults believe dinosaurs once lived on the planet alongside prehistoric humans; and a quarter believe dinosaurs and elephants roamed the savanna at the same time.
While Americans are probably the most obsessed with dinosaurs in the world, because the vast majority of movies about dinosaurs come from the United States, and 64 percent of adult Americans are fascinated by dinosaurs as children, and the vast majority of them also think they have passed on their love for dinosaurs to the next generation, ironically, of the more than 1,000 dinosaurs, the typical Adult in the United States can only name 4 species, of which T. rex is the most familiar, and 47% of them can't even identify the famous Triceratops.
Even more ridiculous is the fact that researchers fabricated a dinosaur called Doyouthinktheysaurus, and that six adults believe that this dinosaur actually existed on Earth.
It seems that the coexistence of a large number of true and false information has indeed misled many Americans, in fact, not only in this investigation, but also in some other conspiracy theories, many Americans are becoming more and more confused. In 1999, only 6 percent of Americans thought the U.S. moon landing was fake, while a 2013 scientific American report said 37 percent of Americans did not believe that humans had ever landed on the moon.
Of course, you should not laugh at so many Americans' vague understanding of dinosaurs, and don't think that everyone is getting more and more confused, how many correct answers can you answer the following questions?
How long did dinosaurs live on Earth?
When did dinosaurs become extinct?
How many dinosaurs can you name?
If there are many pictures of dinosaurs, how many dinosaurs can you recognize?
Where did dinosaurs live on Earth?
Do you know Dou Yusenk Hot Dragon?
Partial Answers:
Dinosaurs lived on Earth for about 170 million years, first appearing in the Triassic Period 230 million years ago, except for some ornithioid dinosaurs, all non-avian dinosaurs and most of the bird-type dinosaurs were extinct during the Cretaceous mass extinction event 66 million years ago, and the surviving gradual evolution into today's birds. Dinosaur fossils are now found on all seven continents, which means that in the 140 million years that dinosaurs ruled the planet, their footprints may have traveled to every corner of the planet.