Triceratops, from the Greek meaning "three-horned face", (because it had three horns) was a ceratopsid herbivorous dinosaur from the Latest Cretaceous period of North America. It lived on the planet about seventy million years ago. It was about thirty feet long, ten feet tall, and probably weighed around 12,000 pounds. Triceratops was discovered by John Bell Hatcher in 1888, named by Othniel Charles Marsh in 1889 and its acceptance as a legitimate dinosaur came when an intact skull was found. The sturdy nature of the animal's skull has ensured that many examples have been preserved as fossils, allowing variations between species and individuals to be studied.