Bangkok Post. June 1, 2002. p, 1,~ 637,9

I Thailand was once one giant ‘Jurassic Park

Story a”d picmres by L. BRUCE KEKULE Illustrations by SMITH SUTIBUT

“ring the Early Cretaceous Period, Cretaceous era, flom about 144 to ,65mya. (See about 140 million years ago, a graphics.) Theseperiods were further s&rated lone theropod ,dinosaur walked into early, middle and late for the Triassic and slowly along a’river hunting for Jurassic eras and, early and late for the prey in what is now K&sin prov- Cretaceous. inceD in Northeast Thailand. Herbivorous sauro- Over 160 million years, dinosaurs evolved pod and ornithopod dinosaurs also inhibited into some of the largest animals ever to live on this land and were probably the main diet for the face of the planet. Many of these reptiles the carnivorous theropod. The huge meat- grew into the tallest, longest and heaviest eating dinosaur’s only objective was to seek, animals ever to walk on Earth. Some, however, kill and devour other dinosaurs. It survived by tie& no bigger than a chicken. the killer instinct alone and was one of the Hundreds of species became intricately fiercest predators the world has ever known, adapted to.+ wide range of conditions and Its body weight of approximately two tonnes~ environments. This adaptation contributed to and its large feet meant that it left deep the success and diversification of the dinosaurs. impressions in the sandy deposits along the During the Early Triassic peridd life on land river. This dinosaur walked “p-right and left a was dominated by primitive reptiles that had single-file trackway. As time went on, these evolved from amphibians. They were suited to footprints remained intact. Over millions of mild and dry conditions. The phrase “eat or years, the sand bank eventually hardened and be eaten” was the rule of the land. solidified. Pangaea, the supercontinent known as “all This remarkable site is one of many that earth” was on one side of the planet. To the exemplify Thailand’s magnificent natural history. north was Laurasia and to the south was Gond- It’s a record of a” era when dinosaurs ruled wana. The climate everywhere was mild, warm the land. or hot. There were no ice caps on the poles. No time on earth has resulted in a more Deserts spread to inland regions and most of fascinating nature story then the Mesozoic the coastlines were semi-tropibal. There was era, also known as the “Age of Dinosaurs”. only one ocean, now known as Panthalassa. There were three distinct periods during the As Pangaea drifted slowly north it started to Mesozoic era - the Triassic era, about 248 to show signs of breaking apart. Plant 208 million years ago (mya), the Jurassic life was mostly ginko, seed ferns, era, about 200 to 144mya, and the cycads and conifers. Many older “tiles disaoueared in several mass extinctions, giving way to new species. The v most successful of these were the dinosaurs that evolved during the Late Triassic era. They swiftly spread to every continent and occupied every environment. The earliest mammals also evolved at this time. These were tiny, insignifidant shrew-like animals that scampered around the dinosaur. c .,: -. , was found by Dean Willlan Bnckland, a British naturalist. ‘llw term dinosaur (“terrible When lizard”) was coined by the British scientist Richard Owen. Many other dinosaur hunters followed like Othniel Marsh, Edward Cope dinbsaUrs and Roy Chapman Andrew of the US. These me” contributed niucb to the science of palaebntology. ruled Without doubt, the man at the forefront of Thai palaeontology~is “walking dinosaur The Jurassic era saw a surge in the dictionary” Varavudh Suteethorn. Thailand’s evolution of the dinosaur. Sauropods - top expert on the subject is a geologist and long-necked, lumbering giants standing palaeofitologist working for theDepartment many stories high - dmninated the land. of Mineral Resources and he has found They were herbivores that grazed and browse more dhaaur fossils in Thailand than ai up to the level of tree-tops. Mapy other anyone else. new species evolved during this time, includ- Varavudh has published many scientific ing the giant meat-eating theropods. Birds papers on dinosaurs and a species has been also evolved during the lurassic era. named after him. He continues to find new By the Late Jurassic era, Pangaea was fossils and more endemic species are bound breaking up in earnest. The creation of new to come forth in the future. IIis latest find is seas like Tethys affected the global climate, a stegosaur (““lated lizard”) of the Late which became warm worldwide. Increasing lur&ic era. rainfall allowed lush tropical vegetation to Eric Buffetaut and his wife Haiyan Tong flourish over large areas. The Earth’s species from France have been “art of a Thai- were in evolutionary hyper-drive. French joint-venture in dinosaur studies TheCretaceous era was the third and ahd are also consi,dered leading authorities final period of the Mesozoic era. It was the on Thai dinosaurs, having published many climax of the “Age of Dinosaurs”. Lawasia papers in conjunction with Varavudh. They and Gondwala fragmented into the conti- work with the National Centre of Scientific nents that we know today. Now-isolated Hcsearch in Paris and have helped with the animals evolved separately from one another identification of many Thai fossils. ‘Their and by the Late,Cretaceous more species of work is meticulous and the Thai-French dinoqur appeared than ever had before, team has found some 15 species of dinosaur. Flowering plants also appeared during this Thailand has the distinction of having time. the largest and finest collection of dinosaur The extinction of the dinosaurs about 65 fossils in Southeast Asia. Laos is the only million years ago has been studied extensivelv other co”“trv in the rwion,I that has such and m&y theories abound about why ft fossils. ’ happened. ‘The subject is hotly debated but The northeast of the Kingdom was on i the most common theory says that a giant the continental shelf of Panaaea in the novth- .meteor crashed into earth, creating in enor- em margin of Gondwana. l%“o- -- mous dust cloud that covered the planet saur remains have been found and blocked o”t the life-giving rays of the in Chaiyaphum, Khon Kaen, sun. Continerital drift and’increased volcanic K&sin, Loci, Sakon Nakhon, activity also probably contributed to the Mukdahan, Udon Thani, IJbon extinction of the dinosaurs. Fossil evidence Ratchathani, Prachin Buci, suggests they did not disappear all at once, Nakhon Ratchasima (Karat), but over a” extended period of time. Nakhon Phanom, Phetchabun, The passage of geological time is marked Phitsanulok and Nong Bua Lum by the slow formation of sedimentary rocks. Phu provinces. Many Thai fossils These are made over millions of years by shotiaffinities with Chinese and the gradual laying down of particles like Mongolian assemblages. dust and sand. The oldest forms are at the So far, all the fossil bones and bottom and the newest on top. In many footprints discovered have come places, these formaiions have been eroded from Me$ozoic non-marine sedi- or disrupt&by geological movement, bring- ments of the Karat Plateau. These ing old rocks to the surface and fossils with fomxitions range from sandstone them. to clay to freshwater limestone. Palaeontology is the study of rock forma- Seven major formations are - tions and fossils and of their position ins Huai Hin iat (220 million years geological timescales. ago), NamPhong @lOmya), Phu Dinosaur fossils wel-e recognised as Kradung (16Omya), Phra Wihan beltinging to giant extinct reptiles in the (140mya), Sao Khua (130mya), early 1800s. although they were found and Phu Phan (120mya) and Khot collected long before that. Kruat (100mya). In 1620, Gideon and Mary Mantell found Thailand’s dinosaur have been fossil teeth in England belonging to a” Iguan- dated from the Late Triassic to “don (“Iguana Tooth”) and,in 1824, the jaw the Early Cretaceous eras (Buf- bone of a Megalosaurus (“Great Lizard”) fetaut and Sot&horn 1996). 1,

In 1976, one of the first dinosaur fossil Sahatsakhan district, 30 kilometres north ofi finds was made in Thailand. It was a femur K&sin. The Buddhist temple is situated at i bone from a sauropod in I’hu Wiang National the foot of Phu Kum Khao hill and the site 1 Park in Khan Kacn province. A little later, attracts many visitors all year round. The an isolated tooth from a theropod and several first fossils were found here in 1960 and from a sawopod of the Early Cretaceous were kept at the temple. Further study and / em were found. These first discoveries were excavations by Thai-French palaeontologists : in the Sao Khua Formation. Many new netted a tremendous find. 1 ,‘finds and advances have occurred at the At Phu Kum Khao, four individual skeleton 1 I site since then. remains of the sauropod Phuwiangosaurus 1 Seven species of endemic dinosaur new lay in the soft red clay, siltstones and sand- to science have been discovcrcd in ‘Thailand stone of the Sao Khua Formation. A single at various sites in thE northcast. laterally compressed and serrated tooth from / In 1906, a medium sized fish-eating thero- a theropod was also found here, indicating ) pod Siamosuurus suteethor-ni, similar to scavenging on the sauropod carcasses. This j Spinosaurus of Africa, was unearthed. has also hcen observed at Sao Khua Forma- i In 1992, a much smaller herbivorous tion at Phu Wiapg National Park. L j d~mosaur, Psittucosaurus ,sattayarakii which ‘Thailand also has the distinction of being ) / was about a metre long with a parrot-like the only country in Southeast Asia with ’ ( beak, was excavated in Chaiyaphum. fossil&d dinosaur footprints. They have In 1994, the largest dinosaur so far found been discovered at five sites in the northeast. i was a herbivorous sauropod of the Early In 1974, the first set of theropod prints : ~ Cretaceous era. 11 was named Phuwiango- on a slab of sandstone was found in Phu ~ .%uuu sirindhhornae atier IHer Royal Highness Luang Wildlife Sanctuary in Loei province. 1 ~ Princess Maha ChakriSirindhorn. This gigan- These prints are in the Phu Phan Formation. tic plant-cater has since been discovered at ‘The oldest set of prints’ date back to three different sites in the Karat Plateau. 140mya and are in the Phra Wihan formation A czrnivorous theropod, Siamolyrannus at Phu Wiang National Park in Khon Kaen isanensis, was found in 1996. It is tbc oldest province. It shows several trackways of small Tyrannosaurus found in the world and is 7: ornithopod, larger theropod and sauropod Ran’s most ancient ancestor. dinosaurs of the Early Cretaceous era. ‘The latest find in the northeast is from Another site discovered by two young, the Late Triassic cti and has been named schoolgirls in 1,996 -also in the Phra Wihan Isanosaurus attuvipachi. It was a primitive formation in Phu Faek non-hunting area in\ sauropod and is possibly the oldest found K&sin province - shows two different so far in the world. Thailand’s dinosaur sets of dinosaur footprints. The main track- ~ discoveries have predated many other finds way in Phu Faek was made by the two- ; worldwide and, hence, scientists helievc tonne theropod dinosaur mentioned at the i that quite a few species originated in Asia. start of this story. These are the clearest and ! Probably, the single most important dis- hcst preserved footprints in ‘Thailand. A I / covery in Thailand was at Wat Sakawan in total of some 21 footprints have been found 1 here. A smaller set of footorints criss-cross the larger s&Both / sets are three-toed. On the negative side of! things, fossils are in demand _ among local and international / collectors and are sought after I by some villagers in all the areas / where bones are found. / : Some have ended up at tour- / : ist destinations and private! I zoo parks as curiosity items.!: The evidence of millions of! years of evolution has been lost I by indiscriminate excavation j, I” of these prehistoric creatures. ( It is hoped that this practice of! 111, looting the lost world for profit; will subside. On the world map, Thailand: is a major dinosaur site and! clearly one of the globe’s richest., The Thai fossils are providing: valuable information about the; biogeographical history of Asian, dinosaurs. The Thai-French’ exploration for fossils continues., b ne of’fthe ossilised dinosaur skeletons at the Wat Sakkawan What revelations are still hidden;