Prehistoric Animal Museum

Meet today’s friendMarine crocodyliform reptile

Dakosaurus

Four flippers and a finned tail.

Dakosaurus was an ancient crocodile relative that lived in the sea and had four flippers. Follow its body to the tail and look for the fish-like fin at the end.

Still model of Dakosaurus on a transparent background

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Preparing the Dakosaurus exhibit.

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Guide for grown-ups

When it lived: Late Jurassic
Where fossils were found: Germany, Europe
Body length: 4.8 m (about 16 ft)
Diet: Meat-eater
What kind of animal?: Marine crocodyliform reptile. Dakosaurus was a crocodyliform adapted to life in the sea, with limbs and a tail suited to moving through water. Cutting edges on its fossil teeth show that it was a meat eater.

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Narration transcript

Dakosaurus was an ancient crocodile relative that lived in the sea and had four flippers. Follow its body to the tail and look for the fish-like fin at the end.

Research notes about Dakosaurus

Research summary

Fossils of Dakosaurus date to the Late Jurassic and have been found in Germany, Europe.

Learning from fossils

About 4.8 metres comes from a well-studied fossil individual and does not mean that every Dakosaurus was the same size.
Research has revised both its snout shape and the classification of some species. A short snout should not be claimed for every Dakosaurus.
Complete soft tissues, skin colour and gentle display movements are reconstructed.

Scientific sources

A complete morphological description of Dakosaurus maximus with insights into its palaeoecologyAccessed 2026-10-28
The cranial osteology and feeding ecology of Dakosaurus and PlesiosuchusAccessed 2026-10-28

Leon Made This compiled these research notes from public museum resources and scientific papers while preserving uncertainty in the reconstruction. Last reviewed 2026-10-28.

3D model and asset credits

Dakosaurus: Model by Julian Johnson-Mortimer (FreddyFoxFreddy); museum preparation by Leon Made This. 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