Panama is HIDING something NOBODY talks about

Every ship crossing the Panama Canal uses about 52 million gallons of fresh water—roughly 79 Olympic swimming pools—flushed from rain that falls on the jungle into the sea. Panama is a 74,180-square-kilometer strip of volcanic rock that erupted 21 million years ago and finally sealed off the Atlantic from the Pacific about 2.76 million years ago. That land bridge brought saber-toothed cats and giant sloths walking between North and South America, while the jungle that covers 62 percent of Panama's surface now collects the rainfall that every cargo ship depends on. The canal itself cuts through volcanic ash and lava, moves up to 14,000 ships a year through locks three times longer than any built before, and generates 58.5 percent of the country's electricity through hydropower—when drought doesn't cut that share to 41 percent. But logging and farming have cleared about half the rainforest around the canal in recent decades, threatening the lakes that keep it running. If climate patterns shift and El Niño reduces the rainfall that fills those lakes, could the world's most critical shipping route simply run dry? Chapters: 0:00 Did you know every ship that 0:56 Number twenty 1:54 Number nineteen 2:47 Number eighteen 3:34 Number seventeen 4:30 Number sixteen 5:30 Number fifteen 6:27 Number fourteen 7:18 Number thirteen 8:15 Number twelve 9:16 Number eleven 10:06 Number ten 10:55 Number nine 11:48 Number eight 12:42 Number seven 13:46 Number six 14:42 Number five 15:36 Number four 16:50 Number three 17:53 Number two 18:47 Number one 20:14 Most countries are shaped by what Map data: NASA Blue Marble Next Generation (GIBS); elevation: AWS Terrain Tiles (SRTM, USGS 3DEP, GEBCO); borders: Natural Earth. #Panama #geographyfacts #geographydocumentary #PanamaCanal #volcanicisthmus #shippingroute #rainforestwatershed #GatunLake #CentralAmericangeography #landbridge #freshwatermanagement #cargoshipping