October 18, 2019

Recent excavations in central Thailand have led to the discovery of a new type of predatory dinosaur, Siamraptor suwati. The ancient creature belonged to a group of giant meat-eaters called carcharodontosaurs, which means shark-toothed reptiles. Siamraptor dates from the Cretaceous Period, a time in Earth’s history from about 145 million years ago to 66 million years ago. The Cretaceous was the last of the three periods that make up the Mesozoic Era, the time when the dinosaurs lived.

Fossils found in Thailand helped scientists reconstruct the skull of the newly identified Siamraptor suwati dinosaur. Credit: Duangsuda Chokchaloemwong, et al/Nakhon Ratchasima Rajabhat University

Siamraptor (Siam is the previous name for Thailand; raptors were carnivorous, bipedal dinosaurs) is the first example of a carcharodontosaur to be found in Southeast Asia. Previous examples came from northern Africa and Europe, and close cousins have been found in Argentina (Giganotosaurus) and the United States (Acrocanthosaurus).

The fossilized bones of Siamraptor were found in 115-million-year-old rocks in the central Thai district of Ban Saphan between 2008 and 2013. Paleontologists from Thailand’s Nakhon Ratchasima Rajabhat University found the fossils—22 in all—while working on a project with Japan’s Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur Museum. The announcement that the fossils belonged to a new type of carcharodontosaur came in October 2019 after years of study. Siamraptor was not the first find for the Japan-Thailand Dinosaur Project. The team earlier identified two new types of plant-eating dinosaurs and an ancient relative of the alligator and crocodile.

Twenty-two fossils aided in the skeletal reconstruction of Siamraptor suwati. Credit: Duangsuda Chokchaloemwong, et al/Nakhon Ratchasima Rajabhat University

The Siamraptor fossils include parts of a single animal’s feet, hands, hips, spine, and skull. The animals’s bones were somewhat porous, containing air sacs that would have made the creature a lighter and more agile hunter. Nearby were also many Siamraptor teeth, suggesting that this animal had not been alone. Like sharks, dinosaurs shed teeth throughout their lives, particularly when they ate, and the Ban Saphan site (a floodplain during the Cretaceous Period) may have been a common feeding ground. Siamraptor probably preyed on plant-eating dinosaurs in the area, using its bladelike serrated teeth—measuring up to 6 inches (15 centimeters) long—to slice through tough dinosaur flesh.

Scientists classify Carcharodontosaurus with other meat-eating dinosaurs in a large group known as theropods. These animals make up one of two main groups of saurischian (lizard-hipped) dinosaurs. Saurischians include such famous dinosaurs as Tyrannosaurus and Velociraptor. Although Carcharodontosaurus is classified in the same main group as Tyrannosaurus and Velociraptor, it was not closely related to them.

Tyrannosaurus and Carcharodontosaurus shared such traits as big heads, long bodies, and short arms, but the animals’ snouts were quite different. Tyrannosaurus had a broad head and a wide mouth with teeth made for crushing bone and pulling away flesh. Carcharodontosaurus had a much narrower head and a more precise bite with sharper teeth meant for slicing flesh. The two apex predators (at the top of the food chain) appear to have coexisted in several areas, which probably made for some rather interesting confrontations.

July 12, 2018

On Tuesday, July 10, the last members of a youth soccer team of 12 boys and a coach were rescued from a flooded cave system in the southeast Asian nation of Thailand. The boys, aged 11 to 16, and the 25-year-old coach had been trapped in the extensive Tham Luang cave complex in northern Chiang Rai province since June 23. The team—known as the Wild Boars—was stranded by flood waters while on an outing in the caves, which are a popular recreational destination. Most of Tham Luang’s 6.2 miles (10 kilometers) of subterranean passages are dry, but they often flood during the rainy season.

Wild Boar teammates wave happily from a hospital in Chiang Rai, Thailand, after being rescued from the nearby Tham Luang cave complex in July 2018. Credit: Thailand Government Spokesman Bureau

For many days after the Wild Boars disappeared in the cave, people feared the worst as entrances were blocked by high waters. A massive rescue operation began that included 90 specially trained divers—40 from Thailand and 50 from countries all over the world—and hundreds of emergency and support personnel. The divers navigated the maze of pitch-black flooded caves, laying guide lines along the way to help find their way to and from the safety of the cave entrance. Narrow gaps in the submerged caves forced the divers to remove their oxygen tanks at times, while in dryer places the divers had to walk or climb the caves in their heavy and cumbersome gear. Divers searched the flooded passages, but they hoped to find the group in an air pocket of one of the partially flooded areas.

Click to view larger image
The last members of a youth soccer team were rescued from a cave system near Chiang Rai in far northern Thailand on July 10, 2018. Credit: WORLD BOOK map

Contact was at last made on July 2: the Wild Boars were safe, but understandably hungry, exhausted, and frightened. Rescue operations then kicked into high gear. If the kids and coach were not rescued quickly, further flooding in the area could leave them stranded underground for months. Diminishing oxygen levels in the cave system were also a concern. After the divers took supplies to the trapped team members and rigged a system to get them out, the first four of the boys—none of whom knew how to swim—were brought to safety on Sunday, July 8. Accompanied by two divers, each boy wore a full-face scuba helmet, wet suit, and boots. One diver swam ahead and carried the boy’s air tank. The boy was tethered to the lead diver as a second diver followed. Four more boys were rescued on Monday. The last group (including the coach) was greeted by cheers and sighs of relief at the cave entrance on Tuesday. The soccer team survived the 17-day ordeal relatively unharmed, but a Thai navy diver died on July 6 when he ran out of oxygen while trying to return to the cavern entrance.

The boys and coach are now recuperating at a hospital in Chiang Rai city, where they are temporarily quarantined from physical contact. The group drank water in the cave that was likely contaminated, and they were exposed to bird and bat droppings. Once cleared of the possibility of infection, they will get some long-awaited hugs. The boys lost an average of 4.4 pounds (2 kilograms) each. Despite calls for rich dishes of rice and pork, the hungry team must be fed blandly and slowly to prevent digestive upset. Like little movie stars, they are also wearing sunglasses as their eyes readjust to light.

December 2, 2016

Yesterday, December 1, Maha Vajiralongkorn was proclaimed king of Thailand. Maha, who is now also known as King Rama X, succeeded his father, Bhumibol Adulyadej. Bhumibol, who was known as King Rama IX, was Thailand’s king from 1946 until his death on Oct. 13, 2016. Although Maha has been proclaimed king, his coronation will not be held until after Bhumibol’s cremation, which is expected in 2017.

Thailand’s Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn took the throne as King Rama X in Bangkok, Thailand, on Dec. 1, 2016. Credit: © Chaiwat Subprasom, Reuters

Maha, who was born in 1952, has lived much of his life out of public view. He attended school in Thailand and the United Kingdom before graduating from the Royal Military College in Australia. He served as a pilot in the Thai army during the 1970’s. Beyond that, much of Maha’s life is a mystery to the rest of the world. Thailand has strict laws on what the media can publish about the country’s royal family. Any information that could be deemed derogatory or potentially embarrassing is explicitly banned from publication. It is known that Maha has been married three times and has several children. He is believed to have spent much of the past few decades in Europe.

Maha is the latest monarch of Thailand’s Chakri dynasty (line of rulers), which has controlled the throne since a nobleman named Chaophraya Chakri became King Rama I in 1782.

May 20, 2015

Government officials from three Southeast Asian countries—Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand—met today in Malaysia’s capital, Kuala Lumpur, and agreed to stop turning away migrant ships from their coasts. At least 3,500 migrants from Bangladesh and Myanmar have come ashore in one of the three nations over the last few weeks, but some 7,000 more migrants are thought to be still adrift at sea. The migrants are in distress from their long journeys and many of them are dehydrated and malnourished.

Migrants wait to be rescued by fishermen off the coast of Aceh, Indonesia, May 20, 2015. Hundreds of migrants stranded at sea for months were rescued and taken to Indonesia, officials reported, the latest in a stream of Rohingya and Bangladeshi migrants to reach shore in a growing crisis confronting Southeast Asia. Credit: AP Photo

Refugees from Bangladesh are mostly economic migrants seeking jobs. The migrants from Myanmar, however, are Rohingya Muslims, a group that has long been persecuted in Myanmar. Rohingya, even those from families who have lived in Myanmar for generations, are denied citizenship in the predominantly Buddhist nation and have few rights there.

The current migrant boat crisis in Southeast Asia began a few weeks ago. Previously, migrants from Bangladesh and Myanmar had traveled by sea to Thailand and then overland. Thailand recently cracked down on this overland traffic, and now smugglers are sending migrants exclusively on sea routes. Often these human traffickers abandon the migrants if a ship founders. Navies from Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand have been turning away the boat people at their shores and have sometimes towed stricken boats to the shores of other nations.

The agreement to permit migrants to enter the host nations by sea solves a humanitarian crisis in the short run. Eventually, however, the solution lies in helping Bangladesh to become more economically sound and pressuring Myanmar to recognize and stop persecuting the Rohingya population living in its borders.

Other World Book articles:

• Immigration

• Myanmar (2014-a Back in time article)

May 22, 2014

Thailand’s military announced today that it has taken control of the government and has suspended the constitution. Speaking on state television, the chief of the Thai army, General Prayuth Chan-ocha, stated his intention to restore order and enact political reforms. General Prayuth will head a ruling military body–the National Peace and Order Maintaining Council–but the upper house of parliament and courts will continue to function.

In late January, the Thai government imposed a state of emergency in Bangkok, the capital, and surrounding provinces, in an attempt to quell public unrest. Bangkok has been roiled by antigovernment demonstrations since November 2013. Protesters demanded the resignation of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, who had long been accused of abuse of power.

The government of Thailand had been tied up in a power struggle since the military had ousted Ms. Yingluck’s brother, Yingluck Shinawatra, as prime minister in a 2006 coup. Thaksin–a telecommunications billionaire who lives in self-imposed exile in London and Dubai–had been accused of ruling Thailand through his sister. Thaksin and Yingluck enjoyed strong support in rural areas and among poorer voters but were despised by Thailand’s urban middle and upper class elite who accused them of massive corruption.

On May 7, the Thai Constitutional Court ordered Prime Minister Yingluck and nine members of her Cabinet to resign. The court ruled that Yingluck acted illegally when she removed her national security head in favor of a relative. On May 20, the army imposed martial law while claiming there was no coup.

Today, TV broadcasting was suspended, political gatherings were banned, and a 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. nationwide curfew was imposed “in order to keep peace and order.” The United Nations Human Rights Council responded to the coup by urging Prayuth and his ruling council “to take all necessary measures to ensure fundamental human rights are respected.”

Additional World Book articles:

• Thailand 2006 (a Back in Time article)
• Thailand 2007 (a Back in Time article)
• Thailand 2008 (a Back in Time article)
• Thailand 2009 (a Back in Time article)
• Thailand 2010 (a Back in Time article)
• Thailand 2011 (a Back in Time article)
• Thailand 2012 (a Back in Time article)
• Thailand 2013 (a Back in Time article)