Prehistoric Animal Museum

Meet today’s friendLobopodian

Hallucigenia

Paired spines along the back and rows of little legs underneath.

Open your hand and imagine Hallucigenia, only a few centimetres long. It had pairs of spines on its back, with rows of little legs underneath.

Still model of Hallucigenia on a transparent background

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Hallucigenia

Parasaurolophus

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Xiphactinus

Preparing the Hallucigenia exhibit.

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Guide for grown-ups

When it lived: Cambrian
Where fossils were found: Burgess Shale, Canada
Body length: 0.03 m (about 0.1 ft)
Diet: Not yet certain
What kind of animal?: Lobopodian. Hallucigenia lived in Cambrian seas and was only a few centimetres long. The enlarged view makes its spines and little legs easier to see.

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Narration transcript

Open your hand and imagine Hallucigenia, only a few centimetres long. It had pairs of spines on its back, with rows of little legs underneath.

Research notes about Hallucigenia

Research summary

Fossils of Hallucigenia date to the Cambrian and have been found in Burgess Shale, Canada.

Learning from fossils

Some details of how it fed and used its little legs are still being studied.

Scientific sources

Hallucigenia at the Royal Ontario 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

怪诞虫: “怪诞虫” by huykhoi2407, 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