Scientists from the University of Kansas discovered that in the warm climate of ancient Canada, the first relatives of primates adapted to life in the high latitudes of the Arctic, where they spent half the year in the dark. The research was published in the journal PLOS ONE.
Fossils from Canada’s Ellesmere Island show a warm swamp environment 52 million years ago. Scientists have proven for the first time that relatives of primates already lived in the Arctic at that time – the oldest recorded in the Arctic ecosystem.
The researchers identified the new species after analyzing jaw and tooth fossil fragments. Ignacius dawsonae and ignacius mckennai. Both species are relatively large, and this is a common feature of northern mammals. Additionally, the features of their teeth suggest that the animals ate hard food (nuts and seeds) during the long, dark arctic winters when softer foods were hard to find.
During the Eocene, the southern latitudes of North America were home to many early primate relatives. But only these two animals were found in the north, confirming the limited biodiversity of the Arctic ecosystem compared to those further south.
Source: Gazeta
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