You may have been told online or at special interest museums that dinosaurs once lived alongside humans, or maybe even still live today. Here we look closely at this claim, and discover what science can tell us.
This animation was based partially on two wonderful books:
'Hunting Monsters' which is about the quests of various scientists and explorers attempting to discover mythical beasts, some of which turned out to be real! You can get yourself a copy here:
And the book 'Dinosaurs - How they lived and evolved'. This is a huge, full-colored book, summarizing all the discoveries we've made about dinosaurs since the first was described in 1824. It's the best book I read this year (the year is still young I suppose but... It's pretty dang good!) Get your copy here:
FALSE CLAIMS DEBUNKED
In this video we show the best supposed evidence that humans and dinos once lived together: several corpses, supposed fossils, and pieces of "ancient" dinosaur artwork. Below are links where you can learn more about each claim. Where possible, I also link to articles by creationists debunking these claims because some of our viewers are reluctant to accept secular sources alone:
FOSSIL OF DINO EATING MAN - This was an April fools joke put on by the NMSR. Unfortunately, some dino enthusiasts were so eager to believe that it is still used today in debates as proof that humans and dinosaurs once lived together:
DINO AND HUMAN FOOTPRINTS TOGETHER -
These "human" prints are actually dinosaur tracks with the toes naturally filled in afterwords, leaving a vaguely human-like shape:
Creationists also now accept that these prints are not human:
DEAD KILLER WHALE MISTAKEN FOR DINOSAUR - here is the full video the internet photos were grabbed from. In the video you can clearly see the whales front flippers.
DEAD SHARK MISTAKEN FOR PLESIOSAUR - basking sharks often float after dying and quickly lose their gills and jaws as the rot. This gives them the appearance of being a long necked, small headed creature, superficially similar to a plesiosaur.
Here is a creationist site telling other dino-enthusiasts that it is a shark after-all:
SUPPOSED STEGOSAURUS SCULPTURE - Here is an excellent video by Trey the Explainer on the subject:
ICA STONES WITH DINOSAUR CARVINGS - These carvings were hoaxes - created by profiteering Peruvian farmers and sold to gullible tourists.
Here is a creationist group warning about the controversial history of the stones:
DINO SOFT TISSUE - Watch our animation going over the work of Mary Schweitzer and others that have found soft tissue inside dinosaur bones.
OTHER SOURCES
Info on Crocodiles and their kin living alongside dinosaurs:
Info on Coelacanths:
Info on evolution of dinosaurs from early archosaurs:
Info on the space rock that partially caused the dino extinction:
Info on the 5 major extinction events in the fossil record:
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CORRECTIONS:
At 3:32 I show the skull of Dimetrodon coming out of Devonian rock. Dimetrodon is actually found in the Permian rock. Thanks to YouTube user "Not Tuska" for pointing out my error.