Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn Natural History Museum
Encyclopedia
The Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn Natural History Museum is a natural history museum in the Prince of Songkla University
in southern Thailand. It was originally known as the Natural History Museum of Prince of Songkla University (PSU Museum). After a renovation, it was renamed and re-openned in 14 January 2008 by HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn. The museum's three-storeyed exhibition building is located in the Faculaty of Science. The international PSU Herbarium is part of the museum, being located in the Department of Biology. The museum is considered as one of the most comprehensive natural history museums in the country.
The PSU Museum is a university's funded unit, having equal status to a faculty. However, it is still under inspection and assistance of the Faculty of science. The museum work closely to the Department of Biology and the Excellent Centre of Biodiversity of Penninsular Thailand (CBIPT) as the department and the CBIPT are the main contributors of specimens and research to the museum.
The museum's main collections are biological collections, only a small geological collection is stored and displayed. Its biological collections contains 50,000 specimens of 4,000 species of organisms and can be divided into 2 groups which are botanical collections (PSU Herbarium) and zoological collections. Some significant collections include vascular plant
, seaweed
, coral
, crustacean
, plankton
, mollusc (in particular cephalopod
), echinoderm
, insect
and vertebrate
(in particular bat
).
Prince of Songkla University
Prince of Songkla University was the first university in Southern Thailand, established in 1967. The name of the university was granted by His Majesty the King in honor of His Royal Highness Somdej Chao Fa Mahidol Adulyadej Kromma Luang Songkla Nakarin, the king's father.The university consists of...
in southern Thailand. It was originally known as the Natural History Museum of Prince of Songkla University (PSU Museum). After a renovation, it was renamed and re-openned in 14 January 2008 by HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn. The museum's three-storeyed exhibition building is located in the Faculaty of Science. The international PSU Herbarium is part of the museum, being located in the Department of Biology. The museum is considered as one of the most comprehensive natural history museums in the country.
The PSU Museum is a university's funded unit, having equal status to a faculty. However, it is still under inspection and assistance of the Faculty of science. The museum work closely to the Department of Biology and the Excellent Centre of Biodiversity of Penninsular Thailand (CBIPT) as the department and the CBIPT are the main contributors of specimens and research to the museum.
The museum's main collections are biological collections, only a small geological collection is stored and displayed. Its biological collections contains 50,000 specimens of 4,000 species of organisms and can be divided into 2 groups which are botanical collections (PSU Herbarium) and zoological collections. Some significant collections include vascular plant
Vascular plant
Vascular plants are those plants that have lignified tissues for conducting water, minerals, and photosynthetic products through the plant. Vascular plants include the clubmosses, Equisetum, ferns, gymnosperms and angiosperms...
, seaweed
Seaweed
Seaweed is a loose, colloquial term encompassing macroscopic, multicellular, benthic marine algae. The term includes some members of the red, brown and green algae...
, coral
Coral
Corals are marine animals in class Anthozoa of phylum Cnidaria typically living in compact colonies of many identical individual "polyps". The group includes the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and secrete calcium carbonate to form a hard skeleton.A coral "head" is a colony of...
, crustacean
Crustacean
Crustaceans form a very large group of arthropods, usually treated as a subphylum, which includes such familiar animals as crabs, lobsters, crayfish, shrimp, krill and barnacles. The 50,000 described species range in size from Stygotantulus stocki at , to the Japanese spider crab with a leg span...
, plankton
Plankton
Plankton are any drifting organisms that inhabit the pelagic zone of oceans, seas, or bodies of fresh water. That is, plankton are defined by their ecological niche rather than phylogenetic or taxonomic classification...
, mollusc (in particular cephalopod
Cephalopod
A cephalopod is any member of the molluscan class Cephalopoda . These exclusively marine animals are characterized by bilateral body symmetry, a prominent head, and a set of arms or tentacles modified from the primitive molluscan foot...
), echinoderm
Echinoderm
Echinoderms are a phylum of marine animals. Echinoderms are found at every ocean depth, from the intertidal zone to the abyssal zone....
, insect
Insect
Insects are a class of living creatures within the arthropods that have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body , three pairs of jointed legs, compound eyes, and two antennae...
and vertebrate
Vertebrate
Vertebrates are animals that are members of the subphylum Vertebrata . Vertebrates are the largest group of chordates, with currently about 58,000 species described. Vertebrates include the jawless fishes, bony fishes, sharks and rays, amphibians, reptiles, mammals, and birds...
(in particular bat
Bat
Bats are mammals of the order Chiroptera "hand" and pteron "wing") whose forelimbs form webbed wings, making them the only mammals naturally capable of true and sustained flight. By contrast, other mammals said to fly, such as flying squirrels, gliding possums, and colugos, glide rather than fly,...
).