WATCH | Big bucks expected for 'Big John' as triceratops skeleton to go under the hammer

The fossilised remains of “Big John”, the largest triceratops dinosaur ever discovered by paleontologists, will be sold by a Paris auction house in late September, and could fetch up to $1.77m (R25.2m).

The creature's remains were preserved in mud and the skeleton is more than 60% complete, with a 75% complete skull.

The skeleton is estimated to be about 66-million years old, with the skull spanning 2.62m long and 2m wide. Its two large horns are 1.1m long and more than 30cm wide at their base, and have the ability to withstand 16 tons of pressure.

The dinosaur is believed to  have lived in Laramidia, an island continent which stretched from present day Alaska to Mexico, and perished in an ancient flood plain now known as the Hell Creek formation in South Dakota, where he was discovered by geologist Walter W Stein Bill in May 2014, according to a CNN report.