A common myth about the Maya calendar was that it predicted that the world would end on December 21, 2012. This belief was mistaken. According to the Maya, there were three previous worlds. The first began with “the creation of the Earth, and it had upon it vegetation and living beings. Unfortunately, because they lacked speech, the birds and animals were unable to pay homage to the gods and were destroyed. In the second and third Ages the gods created humans of mud and then wood, but these also failed to please and were wiped out. The "zero date" 13.0.0.0.0 on the Long Count was when, according to the Maya, the third world ended and the fourth one, the current world, began. Another 13.0.0.0.0 would occur on December 21, 2012. There is no evidence that the Long Count would end on 13.0.0.0.0 or that the Maya believed that this would be the date of the apocalypse. Still, a variety of popular books and movies have contributed to the publicity surrounding the Maya calendar's supposed prediction of the end of the world in 2012. Some believershave taken advantage of this publicity to sell guides to surviving the apocalypse.