Lake Gatun

Lake Gatun is a man-made lake created in 1913 by damming the Chargres River. It forms an integral part of the Panama Canal which is the freshwater bridge between the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean that allows ships to pass. The native jungle that surrounds the lake is actually the best defense of the Panama Canal. For this reason, the rain forest surrounding the Canal and Lake Gatun have remained largely untouched by human intrusion.

it is home to native Central American and South American animal species, indigenous tribes and the Smithsonian tropical Institute's world famous Barro Colorado Island, a site for biodiversity studies on an island that was formed when the land was flooded. Many important scientific and biological discoveries of the animal and plant kingdom originated at this site.

Note the impressive sprawl of Lake Gatun in the photo above.