Thirty percent of Texas voters believe that humans and dinosaurs walked the earth at the same time, and another 30 percent don’t know, according to a University of Texas/Texas Tribune poll.
A plurality of those polled, 41 percent, know that dinosaurs and humans coexist only at Disney World and in cartoons.
But it goes downhill from there: More than half don’t believe that humans developed from earlier species of animals.
The poll, of 800 Texas voters, took place February 1-7 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.46 percentage points. The results were reported on Wednesday by The Texas Tribune. David Prindle, a government professor at the University of Texas at Austin, devised the questions. —Don Troop
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24 Responses to Deep in the Heart of the Land of the Lost
madrew - February 17, 2010 at 3:31 pm
well, it is Texas so…
11314967 - February 17, 2010 at 3:33 pm
Maybe secession isn’t such a bad idea after all.
lexalexander - February 17, 2010 at 3:33 pm
It ain’t just Texas. In fact, on the national level, it’s worse.Sigh.
gidget94 - February 17, 2010 at 3:36 pm
@Madrew – yes it’s always fun to mock Texans. I know, b/c I do it and I am one. I want to spend more time looking at the questions, but at first glance, Prindle’s questions and his sample seem pretty weak to me. I agree that we have some misinformed, okay, ignorant citizens, but the results seem like an overstatement to me.
drhypersonic - February 17, 2010 at 3:41 pm
Humans and dinosaurs DIDN’T walk the earth together?? You mean all that time I spent watching The Flintstones was wasted???YGBSM!!!!
amcneece - February 17, 2010 at 3:43 pm
What do you mean “walked with dinosaurs”? Heck, the first Texas ranchers probably raised them! I’m sure they’ll eventually find the remains of an ancient BBQ grill somewhere in Texas with a set of dino ribs. (I wonder if they used vinegar in the sauce….)
_perplexed_ - February 17, 2010 at 3:48 pm
…I’m thinking we need to put aside concerns about all post-primary education and first make sure that everyone has a solid 6th grade understanding of biology…
_perplexed_ - February 17, 2010 at 3:49 pm
…next they won’t know how to make babies…maybe that’s a good thing?
spc09lib - February 17, 2010 at 4:01 pm
Texans never walk with anything they can ride.
11118131 - February 17, 2010 at 4:05 pm
I doubt that this is simply a matter of scientific ignorance. It is an induced ignorance: one reason that at least some do not know the distinct times of dinosaur and human existence has to be that they have been told that, given the Biblical creation myth, dinosaurs could not have lived more than 65 million years ago.
22058885 - February 17, 2010 at 4:09 pm
It would be funny if it weren’t so sad. I live in West Virginia, and have seen my share of bible-thumping ignorance. The real problem is that Texas has enormous influence over the content gets put in biology textbooks that everyone else ends up using.
ceasterling - February 17, 2010 at 4:13 pm
Well, duh! Komodo dragons are still with us after possibly 50 million years. They used to feed on Stegodon and co-existed with hominids and currently with humans. Horseshoe crabs have been around–virtually unchanged–for 445 million years. They co-existed with hominids and humans.The surprising thing is that 41% of Texans did not know this…
rshawver - February 17, 2010 at 4:33 pm
Enough with the Texas bashing! I’m a transplant from Indiana. I’ve lived in five states and a foreign country. And I can assure each and every one of you that ignorance is wide spread. There isn’t a state in the union or a country that doesn’t have its short comings. For starters, it wasn’t a Texas suburban high school teacher that asked my foreign exchange student from Buenos Aires if they had flush toilets in their city. And it wasn’t a Texas school administrator who told me (when attempting to register my Ecuadorian exchange student) that “his school” already had “too many Mexicans”. Nope! Those were a educators from Indianapolis. Perhaps it’s even sadder to note that when I pointed out to the administrator that Mexico and Ecuador aren’t even on the same continent, he honestly looked confused. So what, many Texans don’t believe in evolution. Many people in other states don’t believe in God. I for one, don’t understand either group — but I wouldn’t assume they are ignorant. They simply believe differently than me (which probably has more to do with what their parents believed than what they were taught in our schools).As for not knowing that man didn’t walk with dinosaurs, that’s just more evidence of the dismal state of science education in America is!So lighten up. Texans obviously aren’t better informed than others, but I sincerely doubt that they are any worse informed.
cmsed - February 17, 2010 at 4:43 pm
Of course man walked with dinosaur – according to the great paleontologist Don Was, EVERYBODY walked the dinosaur!
landrumkelly - February 17, 2010 at 4:52 pm
Hold on there, Pilgrim. There are, too, dinosaurs in Texas. I’ve seen their footprints. So, there!
lexalexander - February 17, 2010 at 5:19 pm
@rshawver: All kidding aside, the FACT is that, as @22058885 pointed out, the Texas State Board of Education distorts the market for school textbooks towards ignorance.I deeply resent that, along with the idiotic notion that “barbecue” = dead cow over mesquite. Everyone with a lick of sense knows barbecue = dead hog over hickory.(Everyone else: “Oh, it’s ON, now.”)
11272784 - February 17, 2010 at 5:56 pm
I lived in Texas for 13 years. This is no surprise.
rippleview80 - February 17, 2010 at 9:27 pm
Wouldn’t it be nice if Texas seceded? It would increase our per capita I.Q. significantly. By the way, can anyone name three Texans who made an intellectual contribution to humanity?
dougward - February 18, 2010 at 2:07 am
It’s true. I saw some today.
chrisheaney7 - February 18, 2010 at 7:59 am
@rippleview80: I didn’t know, so I looked it up. Walter Cronkite, Willie Nelson, and, no matter his legacy, LBJ — point being, smart people who didn’t rub it in other people’s faces, were deeply progressive, and tried to speak to as many people as possible. Also: Sandra Day O’Connor and Gene Roddenberry ain’t bad.
texasmusic - February 18, 2010 at 9:04 am
@ lexalexander: yer dern right it’s on now Bubba. Dead cow don’t tell tales but is sure mighty tasty. Guess what’s on fer lunch today? Brisket sammich. Yep.And yet, somehow I managed to make it out of the public school system with my intelligence intact. It doesn’t hurt, I suppose, that my solid A average put me squarely in the top 17% of my class – anywhere else, those grades would have gotten me automatic entry to any university in the state as a top 5% graduate. I guess we had a pocket of intelligence out among the hicks in the sticks.@chrisheaney7: Thanks for bringing up LBJ. I wouldn’t say he never rubbed anything in other people’s faces (he did love power), but whatever his legacy, he did take advantage of his power to effect some good social reform. Can anyone say “Civil Rights Act?” George H.W. Bush (the senior) is another one. He’s got the ADA law and some other good social reform under him that no one really knows about – things no good Republican would be seen with. And Gene Roddenberry? I love it… One does not have to look hard to find lots of Texans who have made great (and yes, intellectual) contributions to humanity. Good job.
texasmusic - February 18, 2010 at 10:04 am
As for knowing or not knowing whether dinosaurs and humans coexisted, I have had people try to show me in the Bible where it says man saw dinosaurs. I’d say it depends on how you interpret that passage. Since I think it’s entirely possible for God and evolution to coexist and even that the Bible (gasp!) to not be an entirely LITERAL piece of work (geez, what part of Texas am I from?) I don’t happen to among those who believe they coexisted or “don’t know.” I’m pretty sure I learned in science class that the dinosaurs were extinct long before man came into existence. Seems like they taught that in public school. I’m pretty sure it was even in my textbook. I feel like this statistic is more representative of folks not paying attention in class, though, than any fundamental religious beliefs. True, there are many fundamental Christians in the South (including Texas) who refuse to believe evolution because they believe the Bible literally. But there are more who believe in God and study their Bible and believe in evolution too.
soomanoola - February 18, 2010 at 3:06 pm
My spouse teaches 4th grade in a Texas elementary school. One of the most daunting tasks he faces is getting 4th graders to construct a simple declarative sentence without using the word ‘shit’.
soomanoola - February 18, 2010 at 3:11 pm
And to think that in the year 2000, the United States Supreme Court ‘appointed’ a resident of this state President. In January, 2009 there was jubilation in Dallas when their village idiot returned.