The term "Dinosaur Fossils" comes from the Greek words: Deinos, meaning "terrible" and Sauros, meaning "lizard;" and the Latin word Fossilis, meaning "dug up." Therefore, dinosaur fossil literally means "great lizard that was dug up."

British anatomist Sir Richard Owen (1804-1892) coined the word "dinosaur" in 1841.

A British fossil finder and ecclesiastic, William Buckland (1784-1856), discovered the first dinosaur fossil remains of our modern times. In 1819, Buckland discovered the Megalosaurus Bucklandii (Buckland's Giant Lizard) in England.

Dinosaur fossils, as with other fossils, are found throughout earth's sedimentary layers. To date, approximately 95.0% of all earth's fossil remains are marine invertebrates, 4.74% are plants, 0.25% are land invertebrates (including insects), and 0.0125% are vertebrates. Of the vertebrates, the majority are fish.

95% of all land vertebrates found consist of less than one bone. However, billions of fossils have been found.

Up to as many as 1,200 dinosaur skeletons have been discovered thus far.