Scientists recently confirmed that Moken sea nomad children living on the Andaman Sea can see underwater with twice the clarity of other children, constricting their pupils to dolphin-like precision through years of ocean training.
About Moken People:
Often called sea nomads or sea gypsies, the Moken are seafaring people who have been living off the coast of Thailand and Myanmar on the Andaman Sea.
Their name, in their own language, means "sea drowned."
The Moken have lived across the Andaman Sea for centuries, moving between the roughly 800 islands that stretch along the coastlines of Myanmar and Thailand.
They are one of the last sea nomad peoples in the world.
Traditionally, they travel in wooden vessels called kabang, moving with the seasons and tides.
Fishing, diving, and gathering shellfish form the backbone of their subsistence lifestyle, and from a very young age, Moken children are immersed in the marine environment.
Possessing a rich knowledge of the reefs, the Moken have exceptional underwater skills such as free diving and spear hunting.
They speak an Austronesian language, a language family widely distributed across Southeast Asia and Oceania.
Most Moken are stateless as a result of their nomadic lifestyle. They have no citizenship in Thailand or Myanmar.
They came into the international spotlight following the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami because they managed to sense warning signs from nature in the form of the sea receding, allowing them to move to higher ground away from dangerous areas.
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