wireless sensor networks include small-sized sensor nodes with limited resources (energy, memory, etc.). Considering this limitation and their placement in unsupervised locations, e.g. military areas, and since this type of networks does not rely on a fixed infrastructure, security becomes a complex and considerable issue in these networks. Providing data and communication security requires appropriate encryption protocols. Key management is one of the most important mechanism used to secure encryption keys and their safe distribution among sensor nodes. Recently, many key management schemes have been proposed, each with its own particular strengths, weaknesses, and applications under certain circumstances. This paper investigates special requirements of distributed dynamic key management schemes in wireless sensor networks. Subsequently, modern distributed dynamic key management schemes are compared and finally, several relevant recommendations are made.