Prehistoric Animal Museum

Meet today’s friendAn early relative of arthropods

Opabinia

Five eyes, a long snout and flaps along the sides.

Hold up five fingers for the five eyes on Opabinia’s head. Then follow its long snout to the pair of tiny claws at the tip.

Still model of Opabinia on a transparent background

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Preparing the Opabinia exhibit.

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Guide for grown-ups

When it lived: Cambrian, Wuliuan
Where fossils were found: Burgess Shale, Canada
Body length: 0.1 m (about 0.3 ft)
Diet: Not yet certain
What kind of animal?: An early relative of arthropods. Opabinia had five eyes and a pair of little claws at the end of a long snout. Including the snout, it could reach about ten centimetres long. The enlarged view helps you see these details.

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Narration transcript

Hold up five fingers for the five eyes on Opabinia’s head. Then follow its long snout to the pair of tiny claws at the tip.

Research notes about Opabinia

Research summary

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

Learning from fossils

Scientists think it may have used the claws on its snout to grasp food. Its exact movements must be inferred from fossils.

Scientific sources

Opabinia 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

Cambrian Alien - Alien weekly challenge: “Cambrian Alien - Alien weekly challenge” by billionlioe, 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