Persistent, but popular, social media posts claim there is no proof dinosaurs once roamed the Earth – saying instead they were created as propaganda to validate the theory of evolution.

The conspiracy theory ignores extensive fossil records that prove dinosaurs were very much once alive and had lives akin to modern animals.

Experts say there is a wealth of evidence to prove the claim is a dino-sized fantasy.

A Facebook post argues dinosaur skeletons are faked to give the impression evolution has been taking place for millions of years.

According to the post, no one uncovered a dinosaur fossil before the term dinosaur was coined in the 1800s. It also claims no fossil find has resulted in the discovery of a complete dinosaur skeleton.

The dinosaur hoax theory is a mix of misinformation and ignorance. Photo: Facebook

Dr Steven Poropat, a palaeontologist and researcher with Curtin University and the Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum, said there were many examples of complete or near-complete dinosaur skeletons.

“The Dinosaur Park Formation in Canada, the Nemegt Formation in Mongolia, the Jehol fossils of Liaoning in China, and several other sites have produced multiple articulated skeletons,” Poropat said.

As recently as 2022, researchers unearthed a fully intact Elasmosaurus fossil in western Queensland.

Experts also said the claim no dinosaur fossils were discovered before the term dinosaur was coined in the 1800s is nonsense.

There are many examples of historical fossil finds that we now know to be early discoveries of dinosaur bones.

Queensland’s Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum is near a fossil hotspot. Photo: Instagram

Professor John Long, a palaeontology expert at Flinders University, said records of people finding dinosaur bones go back thousands of years.

He gives the example of an ancient Chinese gazetteer Huayang Guo Zhi, which reported the discovery of “dragon bones” in the Sichuan province during the Western Jin Dynasty more than 1700 years ago.

“We now know these bones belong to dinosaurs, which are common in that area,” Long said.

The claim also suggests dinosaur skeletons are kept hidden from the public.

According to the claim, dinosaur fossils displayed in museums are all replicas and a “special group of government appointed palaeontologists” are the only ones allowed to view real dinosaur fossils.

It’s true that dinosaur skeletons in museum exhibits are often replicas. But many museums around the world do have original fossils on public display.

The Field Museum in Chicago, for example, publicly displays the world’s most complete Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton.

Long said US institutions such as the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, where he previously worked, frequently showcased authentic fossils as part of its displays.

For an example closer to home, Long pointed to Museums Victoria, which has the world’s most complete Triceratops skeleton on public display.

Despite the claim’s insistence that there is little physical evidence of the existence of dinosaurs, there are extensive fossil records that can teach us how dinosaurs lived and evolved over millions of years.

Horridus is the most complete Triceratops fossil. Photo: Melbourne Museum

Poropat said scientists could be confident that fossil records provided clear evidence for the existence of dinosaurs.

“The most convincing evidence is the fossil record as a whole,” he said.

“The fact that you can find bones of dinosaurs on every continent, but only in rocks of Mesozoic age.

“That, and dinosaurs preserved on nests, that died in combat, that show signs of healed injuries, that show signs of bone disease, that show signs of having been fed on.

“In short, fossils that demonstrate that they were alive and lived lives akin to modern animals.”

-AAP