Phuket Lifestyle: A place for old bones

PHUKET: Dinosaurs are taking a holiday in Phuket, along with all the other old bones on the island, in a travelling museum exhibition which opened on August 28.

The free-entry exhibition, about paleontological and geological discoveries in Thailand, will be open daily at the Phuket Marine Biological Center (PMBC) between 8:30am and 4:30pm until September 16.

“Our aim is to educate the public about the fossil history and geology of Thailand. In making this exhibition possible, we have worked in cooperation with the Sirindhorn Museum in Kalasin in order to promote the advancement of education in science,” said PMBC director Pinsak Suraswadi.

All of the life-sized bones on display are replicas of fossils that were found in Thailand, he added.

Mari Ikenara, a 27-year-old diving instructor living in Patong, originally from Tokyo, Japan said: “The big dinosaur looks really awesome. I hadn’t seen the fossils, dinosaur eggs and footprints before. Unfortunately all the information is written in Thai so I cannot understand it. If the organizers provided it in English , I would enjoy it more.”

Among the displays, including life-sized replicas of the skeletons of three dinosaurs, is a reconstructed Siamotyrannus Isanensis, a carnivorous ancestor of the notorious Tyrannosaurus Rex, standing three meters tall and 12 meters long from head to tail.

The other two dinosaur skeletons on display are the Phuwiangosaurus Sirindhornae, which stands 20 meters long and five meters tall, and the Isanosaurus Attavipachi, which is believed to be one of the oldest herbivorous dinosaurs in the world.

Mr Vanich Kaisilapa, Director of Phuket Thaihua Museum explained, “We don’t have to travel up to the Northeast to see them; the exhibition provides us the opportunity to see these rare things. It is useful. I would like to take this opportunity to invite everyone to come and experience it”

In addition to the dinosaurs, eggs and footprints, and other fossil evidence is on display.

Preewara Hanwongsa, a 23-year-old hotel cook told the Phuket Gazette: “After visiting this exhibition, I learned more about the different kinds of dinosaurs, the way they lived and their different characteristics. I would like to see other organizations set up this kind of mobile exhibition too. It is interesting. I just decided to visit the aquarium but I also had this chance to see the dinosaurs. This is really worth it.”