It is not uncommon to see sloths, white-nosed coati, nine-banded armadillos, Geoffroy's tamarins, or deer on Ancon Hill, which now has protected status.

Higher up were the residence of the Governor of the Canal Zone and Quarry Heights, where the United States Southern Command was located.

When the pirate Henry Morgan sacked Panama City in 1671, his scouts first climbed Ancon Hill to gain knowledge of the local defenses.

The hill became part of the land taken to build the canal and a national symbol in 1906 after Amelia Denis de Icaza wrote her poem about its annexation.

[1] The first ship to officially transit the Panama Canal in 1914, SS Ancon, took its name from the hill and surrounding township.