Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute

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Indigenous Marine Scientist Studies Fish Feeding Evolution in Panama

Through advanced isotopic analyses, Rodnyel Arosemena seeks to understand how fish in the Caribbean and the Pacific that had a common ancestor take advantage of the resources of their different environments today.

BCI Mangrove fossils

A 22 Million-Year-Old Mangrove Forest Was Discovered on Panama’s Barro Colorado Island

A volcanic eruption triggered a sediment flow that preserved a mangrove forest around what is now Barro Colorado Island, providing a better glimpse of the vegetation that existed in a highly changing area

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Extraordinary Fossil Find Reveals Details About the Weight and Diet of Extinct Saber-Toothed Marsupial

A 13-million-year-old saber-toothed marsupial skeleton discovered during paleontological explorations in Colombia is the most complete specimen recovered in the region

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Marine Fossils Unearth Story About Panama’s Deep Past

New fossil mammals found in Caribbean Panama suggest ongoing marine interchange during the final stages of formation of the isthmus connecting North and South America

El Coral beach fish trap in Saboga Island, Panama

See a New Interactive Map of Indigenous Fishing Practices Around the Pacific Rim

Dedicated to “the Ancestors who stewarded the ocean” an interactive story map created by the Pacific Sea Garden Collective reawakens traditional ways of harvesting food from the sea from Panama to Australia to the Pacific Northwest.

Pearl Islands

Unique Agates on a Panamanian Island Reveal Submarine Volcanic Activity

Giant agates found in an island on Panama's Pacific coast prompted a study on how the Isthmus evolved and became a bridge between two continents

Illustration from the graphic novel 'Martina and the Bridge of Time' by Aaron O'Dea and Ian Cooke Tapia. (Ian Cooke Tapia)

A Young Comic Book Heroine Travels Through Panama’s Deep History

'Martina and the Bridge of Time'' tells the story of the Isthmus’ formation and evolution through the adventures of a young Panamanian girl

Cranium of an individual recovered from beneath the Cathedral of Panama Viejo. (Javier Rivera Sandoval, ArtEmpire)

An 'oral' history: Archaeologists search for the origin of dental modification in Panama

A new study asks when and how the Ngäbe indigenous group began to practice dental modification

Fighting conch with lime as prepared in Bocas del Toro, Panama. (Felix Rodriguez, STRI)

The Genetics of Shrinking

To find out if hunting and harvesting act as evolutionary forces that "shrink" animals, researchers isolated DNA from tropical shells for the first time

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