The Triceratops, means Three Horned Face (genus Triceratop) large quadrupedal plant- eating ceratopsian dinosaur that had a frill of bone at the back of its skull and three prominent horns. Triceratops may also use head plate to regulate its body temperature. With its 3 horns, a parrot – like beak and a large frill that could reach nearly 1m (3 feet) across, the Triceratops skull is one of the largest and most striking of any land animal. Date to the final 3 million years of the Cretaceous Period ( 145.5 million to 65.5 million years ago), making it one of the last of the non – avian dinosaurs to evolved. Length 26 to 30 feet. Height 8 – 9 feet and weighed upto 5,450 – 7,260 kg. (approaximately 12,000 – 16,000 pounds). Triceratops had upto 800 teeth over the course of lifetime in groups of about 40 columns. That’s a lot of teeth for dinosaur ! When the first specimen was discovered in 1887 , it was mistaken for a gigantic species of extinct bison. Later discoveries reveal that it was actually a horned dinosaur. Triceratops officially named and described by American paleontologist O.C. Marsh in 1889. There are two recognized species at present 1. T : Horridus and T : Prorsus.