How Many Dinosaur Kinds Were There?

Job 40:15
“Behold now behemoth, which I made with thee; he eateth grass as an ox.”

How many kinds of dinosaurs were there? This is one of the most obvious questions to ask, but the answer is not certain, whether you are a creationist or an evolutionist. Evolutionists have catalogued 500 genera of dinosaurs and 1,000 species. Of course, evolutionists suppose that these all once had a common ancestor. Creationists, however, accept the Bible’s teaching that God created the animals “according to their kind”, or baramin. We can be sure that those 500 genera were not all separate baramins. Even evolutionists suppose that some differently named dinosaurs are actually from the same animal. For example, some small dinosaur fossils get relabeled as merely the young of another species.

Creationists look for three classes of evidence in order to group animals into baramins. These involve : (1) Hybridization, (2) Cognitum and (3) Statistical baraminology. The ability for two species to hybridize is the most obvious line of evidence that two species are of the same baramin – such as the existence of a llama-camel hybrid. But no direct evidence of hybridization of dinosaurs exists. Cognitum is a much less precise quality, relying on human judgment of appearances, but we could, for example, determine that triceratops and centrosaurus were probably of the same baramin, while brachiosaurus and apatosaurus could also have been in the same kind. Statistical baraminology of skeletal features may add extra evidence.

Genesis records that God made all animals according to their kind, and we estimate that there would have been about 50 kinds of dinosaurs originally.

Prayer: We marvel at all Your works, Lord. We praise You for all Your power and glory revealed in Your creation. Amen.

Author: Paul F. Taylor

Ref: Lightner, J. et al (2011), Determining the Ark Kinds, < https://answersingenesis.org/noahs-ark/determining-the-ark-kinds/ >, accessed 9/1/2020. Image: Triceratops and centrosaurus, separate Wikimedia images, both released under CC BY-SA 3.0 Unported, combined by author.