Prehistoric Animal Museum

Meet today’s friendAmmonoid cephalopods

Ammonites

A spiral shell with soft arms extending from its opening.

This ammonite has a shell curled into a spiral, with a soft body inside. Follow the curling path with your eyes, slowly, all the way to the very middle.

Still model of Ammonites on a transparent background

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Preparing the Ammonites exhibit.

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Guide for grown-ups

When it lived: Palaeozoic and Mesozoic eras
Where fossils were found: many parts of the world
Size: Size varies widely between species
Diet: Not yet certain
What kind of animal?: Ammonoid cephalopods. Ammonites were a large group of extinct sea animals with soft bodies inside hard shells. Many shells curled into spirals, with a wide variety of sizes and shapes.

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Narration transcript

This ammonite has a shell curled into a spiral, with a soft body inside. Follow the curling path with your eyes, slowly, all the way to the very middle.

Research notes about Ammonites

Research summary

Fossils of Ammonites date to the Palaeozoic and Mesozoic eras and have been found in many parts of the world.

Learning from fossils

Shells often survive as fossils, while soft parts such as the arms rarely leave traces. Much of their appearance remains uncertain.

Scientific sources

Ammonites at the Natural History MuseumAccessed 2026-10-22

Leon Made This compiled these research notes from public museum resources and scientific papers while preserving uncertainty in the reconstruction. Last reviewed 2026-10-22.

3D model and asset credits

菊石类: “菊石类” by Emil van Dam, CC BY 4.0; modified for the Prehistoric Animal Museum. Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International

Open source and licensing

The code is licensed under AGPL-3.0. Original science writing and project artwork use CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 for non-commercial sharing. The brand policy prevents impersonation, and third-party assets keep their original licences.

View the GitHub project Read the full licensing notes

Official source

Made by Leon Made This

Prehistoric Animal Museum is made and maintained by Leon Made This. Use these addresses to verify the official project and its creator.

Official Prehistoric Animal Museumhttps://leon-made-this.work/museum/en/Leon's personal websitehttps://leon-made-this.work/

More information is available below.

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Leon Made This

About this museum

A little museum made by a developer dad for his daughter

I’m Leon, a developer and a dad. When my daughter was three, dinosaur chases on television frightened her, so I made a 3D prehistoric animal museum where she could look quietly and listen only when she wanted to.

The museum is free, with no sign-up, adverts or visitor tracking. Finding one interesting detail at a time is plenty.

Official source

Made by Leon Made This

Prehistoric Animal Museum is made and maintained by Leon Made This. Use these addresses to verify the official project and its creator.

Official Prehistoric Animal Museumhttps://leon-made-this.work/museum/en/Leon's personal websitehttps://leon-made-this.work/

View the source on GitHub Read the licence and asset notes