Tapir Caper

When a Smithsonian archaeology intern opened a dusty box of bones in a Panamanian warehouse, she didn't expect to find a mystery, let alone a potential crime scene. But Nina Hirai’s discovery of a tapir skull riddled with what appeared to be bullet holes sparked an investigation that would lead her several miles up the Panama Canal and nearly forty years into the past. Join us as we unspool the strange, unresolved story of a tapir named Alice, and ask what it means to live with uncertainty when the past refuses to explain itself. Guests: Nina Hirai, former archeology intern at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute Nicole Smith-Guzmán, archeology curator at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute Ashley Sharpe , research archeologist at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute Aureliano Valencia (“Yeyo”), archeological research technician at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute Phyllis (Lissy) Coley, professor emerita in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Utah and research associate at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute Monica Brenes Lynan , former veterinarian at Parque Municipal Summit in Panama Andres Ramos, lider de guardabosques del Monumento Natural Barro Colorado / head park ranger at Barro Colorado Island

You can listen to Tapir Caper online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Tapir Caper is an episode from Sidedoor by Smithsonian Institution .

This episode is 34:03 long.

This episode was published on Apr 1, 2026.

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