Early relatives of primates lived in the Arctic 52 million years ago

Analysis of fossilized teeth from Canada’s Ellesmere Island reveals that extinct relatives of monkeys and apes reached the Arctic during hotter climates

To Carissa Wong

Relatives of tree-dwelling primates lived in Arctic wetland forests 52 million years ago, when the climate was about 13°C warmer than today.

“These creatures are the first and only primates known to have made it to the North Pole,” said Kristen Miller of the University of Kansas.

Primates, including monkeys and apes, are descendants of squirrel-like mammals that survived the mass extinction that wiped out most dinosaurs 66 million years ago.

Miller and her colleagues photographed about 40 previously collected tooth and jaw fossils from Canada’s Ellesmere Island, located in the Arctic Circle. Previous studies dated the fossil to 52 million years before her, but did not specify to which species.

Using statistical analysis to compare the size and curvature of fossilized teeth with their extinct primate relatives and their living primate relatives, the team was able to determine the size and curvature of the primate relatives. We discovered two new species and named them. Ignatius McKenna When Ignatius Dawson After the paleontologist who first collected them.

“Mammalian tooth anatomy is very complex, which means that teeth can be used like fingerprints at a crime scene to distinguish one species from another,” says Chris Beard, also at the University of Kansas. says Mr.

other species of the genus Ignatius It has been found elsewhere in North America, but its exact relationship to modern primates is a subject of debate.

The team’s analysis suggests that Arctic-dwelling species likely evolved from chipmunk-like ancestors that migrated northward from mid-latitude regions of North America as the climate warmed. compared to their common ancestor, I. dawsonae would have been twice as big I. McKennai Four times larger, says Beard.

Analysis of the teeth also revealed that the creature probably evolved to eat a diet of hard nuts and bark to cope with the lack of softer fruits during the six months of lack of sunlight in the north.

The findings provide insight into how animals can cope with global warming. “Some species of animals can migrate to the Arctic, but many others cannot – just like our animals. Ignatius The species was successful, but many other primates living in lower latitudes were not,” says Beard. Other animals that lived on Ellesmere Island at the time included alligators and tapirs, Miller says.

“This is important in expanding our view of the biology and geographic range of past primates,” said Kenneth Rose of Johns Hopkins University, Maryland. “His diagnosis of the two new species is sound and scientifically correct. Dietary reasoning is reasonable.”

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