3. Paleontological parks, museums, prominent fossil sites, and fossils conservation
NORTHERN THAILAND
Among the prominent fossil sites in the North of Thailand, two places conserve and display fossils to the public: a museum in Mae Moh, Lampang Province and the Petrified Forest Park in Tak Province.
Lampang Province
Mae Moh prominent fossil site and Museum of Lignite Study Center (Mae Moh)
Geologists and paleontologists from the DMR and other researchers have come to study the fossils and geological data of the Mae Moh mine. Most fossils are found in lignite zones, aged to the Middle Miocene based upon the fossil assemblage and magnetostratigraphy. Vertebrate fossils include fishes, snakes, turtles, soft-shelled turtles, crocodiles, and mammals. The mammals were identified as proboscideans: Stegolophodon sp., gomphotheres; rhinoceros: Gaindatherium sp.; otters: Siamogale thailandicus; and artiodactyls: Stephanocemus rucha. Among these mammalian fossils, teeth of a carnivore from the family Amphicyonidae were discovered. They were assigned to a new species, Maemohcyon potisati, thought to be related to the ancestors of bears and pandas . Plant fossils, wood, leaves, and pollen have also been recovered from the mine.