Wayne Clough & Carlos Jaramillo, at a research site near the Panama Canal.

Smithsonian Secretary Wayne Clough, left, talks with Carlos Jaramillo, scientist at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama, at a research site near the Panama Canal. Jaramillo and his team are collecting and examining prehistoric fossils exposed during the recent widening of the Canal. To date, they have discovered the fossils of a 12-inch-tall horse, a tiny camel, huge rhinos, turtles and trees 17- to 23-million-years-old. They have also uncovered  evidence indicating the Isthmus of Panama did not emerge three million years ago, but as early as 22 million years ago. (Photo by Johnny Gibbons)

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Tags: fossils, mammals, Tropical Research Institute