How many species of non-avian dinosaur were there? We will probably never know the definite total, but we can be sure that there were both more and less dinosaur species than have been named to date. The process of science is at the heart of this contradiction.

Skeletons are the key to distinguishing non-avian dinosaur species. Without preserved soft tissues, genes, or other clues used to separate species, bony clues are the primary means to examine how one dinosaur differs from another and where the boundaries of a species might be. But dinosaurs can be tricky critters. Many species are known from only a handful of partial skeletons, or less, that may have been distorted after death. Differences due to age