Learning from the environment
Scientists are arguing about when the land bridge between North and South America showed up.
It’s been believed for a long time that the Panama land bridge emerged from the water some three million years ago, allowing plants and animals easier travel between the two continents. Scientists have been using the Isthmus of Panama to explain bizarre animal migrations and the emergence of extremely long ice ages. However, a vocal group of evolutionary biologists and geologists are stirring up an argument that it all actually happened 15 million years ago. A ‘fierce scientific battle’ has ensued. [Scientific American]