Part III: Panama fossils

Panama wants to make its famous canal bigger and better. The government is enlarging the waterway to allow more and larger ships to pass through it. 7,000 people will work on widening the canal. Some are doing a different kind of digging. Paleontologists are already following along the excavation. They’re searching for fossils. And they’re finding them. The fossils contain information about the region’s past – and hints about its future. The World’s Jason Margolis has the final story of our series on the Panama Canal.
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Jaramillo: “So what a typical paleontologist does is just look around and try to find any evidence of fossils laying around. Sometimes you see the tip of the bone and then the whole animal is underneath.”

Carlos Alberto Jaramillo

Margolis: Carlos Alberto Jaramillo leads a group of paleontologists and geologists at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama City. Today, Jaramillo is working in a large field of dirt alongside the canal. Massive container ships quietly chug through the waterway nearby. Large excavators have stripped away layers of dirt here, exposing fossils from different eras.

Jaramillo: “So what we are going to do is like a time travel and we are going to start at the time about 20 million years ago…”

Margolis: Jaramillo and geologist Edwin Cadena walk around the field with small hammers and hand lenses to examine fossils more closely. Cadena scrapes away some dirt with a small shovel.

Cadena: “I want to see that…Yeah, looks like a fragment…”

Edwin Cadena

Margolis: The two scientists uncover what appears to be the beak of a turtle.

Jaramillo: “You could have the whole skull here and just a tiny portion is outcropping in the surface. Who knows? Or maybe just a small piece you never know.”

Margolis: That piece of turtle is about 20 million years old. Turtles are a fairly common find here along with oyster shells and shark teeth. But fossils from unexpected species also pop up.

Jaramillo: Rhinoceros, camels, horses, plants, like palm trees.
Margolis: “Camels?”
Jaramillo: “Yeah, camels. 20 million years ago there were camels here. So you will feel like you were in Africa 20 million years ago, it’s very cool.”

E.Cadena and C.A. Jaramillo

Margolis: Finding fossils is not just about discovering what plants and animals were here. These fossils provide clues about what the climate was like and how much carbon dioxide was in the atmosphere. They also tell the story of a unique part of the globe.

Up until 3.5 million years ago, Central and South America were divided by water. Two geological plates slowly moved closer and the Panamanian isthmus eventually attached to what is now Colombia. That new land bridge opened the way for a mass migration, as animals and birds crossed between the two continents.

Jaramillo says the fossil record is relevant for biologists today. With global warming, many animals are starting to migrate from the tropics to the temperate regions, just as they did 3.5 million years ago.

Jaramillo: “ I think we are going to learn a lot about what animals migrated faster than others, what happened to animals that were there before the migration, how they compete with animals coming. How fast you will see extinction in the plants and animals that are already there. How soon a new species can really become established in a new place.”

Margolis: Currently, there are five scientists looking for fossils here. Jamarillo says he’d like to hire ten more. Once the Panama Canal Authority starts ramping up the excavation, Jaramillo says it will be a race against time.

Jaramillo: “And The engineers are not going to stop because they find a fossil, so we have to go almost everyday behind all the construction activity just trying to collect as many samples as possible.”

Margolis: The Panama Canal Authority has given the Smithsonian access for the project. But Jamarillo says what the team needs is money: about $2 million dollars. The Smithsonian is trying to raise funds from private donors. Jamarillo calls this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. Once the canal expansion is complete, these fossils will be gone forever.

Jaramillo: “It’s nothing like you can go to Walmart and buy a 20 million year old turtle shell from the Panama Canal. So yea, it’s fantastic finding a new fossil. And every time we come here we find new things. It’s just incredible.”

For the World, I’m Jason Margolis, alongside the Panama Canal.

* Panama Series
* Part I: The Big Canal
* Part II: Developing Panama City
* Panama: A historical perspective