Photo: Silvia Grünhut
BioMuseo | April 29, 2009
The new
Biomuseo,
under
construction in
Amador, tells an
amazing story
virtually
unknown to
panamenians
HOW PANAMA CHANGED
THE WORLD
Dr. Anthony G. Coates
When the world famous
architect Frank Gehry, who’s
spouse is Panamanian, was
persuaded to build in Panama
one of his extraordinary
iconic and unique buildings,
he made it a prerequisite that
the building would have a
significant function. What
better function than to house
a major museum that would
generate pride in all
Panamanians by telling of the
unique role their country has
played in world history.
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Many Panamanians will
be surprised to learn of the
importance of their country
in the history of Planet Earth.
The amazing building that
will be completed next year,
near the Causeway of
Amador, will be home to the
Biomuseum of Panama, the
Bridge of Life. It will be the
first natural science museum
designed and built in the
twenty-first century and it will
tell a fascinating story about
the formation of the Isthmus
of Panama and how it played
a major role in creating our
modern physical and
biological world. No other
country can claim such a
unique role in the history of
our planet.
The Isthmus
divided the oceans
The rise of the isthmus,
over the last 12 million years,
slowly cut off, first, deep
marine connections, and then
BioMuseo | April 29, 2009
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successively shallower ones, until the
Atlantic was completely separated
from the Pacific. This changed the
pattern of oceanic circulation,
which in turn triggered profound
changes in climate.
When there was a broad ocean
connection between the Atlantic
and the Pacific (eg. 20-12 million
years ago), water drifted from the
Pacific into the Atlantic and both
oceans were similar in temperature
and saltiness. Geologists have
collected the same marine fossil
species, such as corals, from such
distant locations as the coast of
California and Venezuela indicating
that only one tropical ocean existed
at this time.
The formation of the Isthmus
of Panama created a barrier
between the Pacific and Atlantic
oceans, about three million years
ago, causing the two regions to
evolve ecologically in two strikingly
different directions. The Trade
Winds that blow across the Isthmus
in our dry season now began to
evaporate a vast quantity of
moisture from the surface of the
Caribbean and dump it into the
Pacific. The Caribbean became
much saltier, warmer and nutrient-
poor at the same time as the Pacific
turned fresher, cooler and nutrientrich.
In the eastern Pacific, the
formation of the Isthmus of
Panama had a very different effect.
As the trade winds push surface
waters offshore, zones of upwelling
occur that bring cold, nutrient-rich,
bottom waters to the surface. Using
the energy of the sun, the plankton
then multiplies rapidly and forms
the base of a food chain that
culminates in migration to these
zones of numerous large fish,
whales and many seabirds. For this
reason, the Bay of Panama is one of
the world’s finest sports fishing
destinations. The spectacular
congregation of large populations of
marine species and seabirds can
often be seen in February-March of
many years in the Bay of Panama.
The reproductive cycles of these
species is timed to exploit the rich
food resources provided by
upwelling. When these cycles are
interrupted, as in an El Nino year,
the young of many species do not
survive.
But the rise of the Isthmus of
Panama also had profound
consequences much further afield.
The warm, dense, salty Caribbean
water travels northward as the Gulf
Stream, and eventually meets the
cooler fresher waters of the
northernmost Atlantic Ocean,
where it rapidly sinks to the bottom.
This creates a kind of pump that
pulls the Gulf Stream into a more
powerful current and drives a
“conveyor belt” of currents
stretching around the world.
The creation of the “conveyor
belt” and the onset of the Ice Age
modified climate in other parts of
the world, creating the relatively
mild climate of northern Europe
where the ports do not freeze in
modern humans). This could not
have occurred without the break
from an arboreal life style and the
resulting freedom of forelimbs to
care for the young. That break was
provided by the climatic changes
that the formation of Panama
initiated.
An indelible mark
We hope that the building itself
will be so distinctive that it will be
recognized as the symbol of
Panama internationally, much like
the Eiffel Tour in France, the Taj
Mahal in India, and the Sydney
Opera House of Australia. It is
magnificently situated, overlooking
the Pacific entrance to the Panama
Canal, with a panoramic view of
the ocean and the capital city. But
the Museum housed in the building
will also be unique and will
illustrate the amazing role that
Photos: Albatros Media
BioMuseo | April 29, 2009
winter. In addition, much of West
Africa dried out, converting
rainforests to savannahs and forcing
many of our tree dwelling primate
ancestors to live on the ground.
This scenario has been used by
the paleontologist Steven Stanley to
propose a new theory for the origin
of humans. He suggests that one
group, derived from
Australopithecus and leading to
modern humans, was able to survive
the serious threat from such large
ground dwelling predators as lions,
leopards, hyenas and wild dogs as
well as other species now extinct. In
this group, a ground dwelling mode
of life freed use of the forelimbs for
activities other than grasping tree
branches. Increase in intelligence,
the distinctive feature of hominids,
requires a large brain, but this can
only occur if there is an extended
period of juvenile development
during which the infant is helpless
for a long time (as is the case in
Pacific Ocean
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Caribbean Sea
We hope that the
building itself will be
so distinctive that it
will be recognized
as the symbol of
Panama
internationally,
much like the Eiffel
Tower in France, the
Taj Mahal in India,
and the Sydney
Opera House of
Australia.
On the Atlantic side of the Isthmus, the
warm salty nutrient poor waters
provided a perfect environment for the
growth of widespread coral reefs
creating the Caribbean as we know it
today. Because corals possess in their
tissues microscopic plants (algae) they
can live in very nutrient-poor, clear,
waters and rapidly grow hard stony
skeletons of calcium carbonate.
Together the corals create a massive
barrier reef that protects calm waters
behind them where extensive seagrass
meadows and mangrove forests can
grow. These environments are the most
biologically diverse ecosystems in the
ocean and are the breeding grounds of
numerous economically important
species that later migrate out to sea.
BioMuseo | April 29, 2009
Panama has played in creating the modern
world.
When the theme of the Museum was
agreed upon, Gehry Partners subcontracted
its design to Bruce Mau Associates who
conceived the design for telling the three
stories. The building was designed around
eight major galleries that the visitor will
traverse in a sequence that outlines the major
chapters in the story. Each gallery will have a
large “Device of Wonder” at its center. These
will be major symbolic sculptures or
reconstructions, lying at the junction of art
and science, which are designed to evoke
surprise and curiosity and to draw the visitor
into a series of exhibits that recount the
particular chapter in the story that the gallery
represents.
The design is conceived as absorbing the
attention of two major types of visitor. By
large succinct lettering and dramatic samples,
graphics, or interactive devices, the casual
strolling visitor will come away with the main
highlights of the exhibition. In smaller text,
and with many exhibits, interactive devices,
We are creating one of the new wonders of the world
that will for many years symbolize the resurgence of
the Republic of Panama in the twenty-first century.
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maps, videos and study tables the diligent
student and the interested visitor can
appreciate the full narrative in considerable
detail. Along this path lays the full educational
value of the museum and we hope that our
specially designed programs can be integrated
into the national school curriculum for the
benefit of all young Panamanians.
Through the efforts of a remarkable
architect, a creative designer, and the work of
many talented Panamanians, and with the
support of the Government of Panama, the
Smithsonian Institution, local organizations
and businesses, as well as international
companies established in Panama, we are
creating one of the new wonders of the world
that will for many years symbolize the
resurgence of the Republic of Panama in the
twenty first century.