Primate ancestors survived extreme climate change 50 million years ago - study

Published date27 January 2023
According to new research out of the University of Kansas, early primates were able to adapt to life in the warm climate of prehistoric Canada

The study, published in the peer-reviewed journal PLOS ONE, looked into how ecosystems react to changing climates by examining fossils from Ellesmere Island, Canada which underwent significant changes during the extreme global warming of the Eocene Epoch approximately 50 million years ago.

Researchers identified two new species that lived in the once-swampy Canadian region, which feature notable adaptations for a warm climate. The species, Ignacius dawsonae and Ignacius mckennai closely resemble today's rodents but are actually close relatives of early primates.

Such creatures would not have ordinarily been able to survive the frigid climate, scientists hypothesized that warmer temperatures led to northern migration which resulted in the species adapting to cold-weather environments as time passed and the cold returned. For example, both species have teeth and jaws that suggest a diet of tough foods which would have come in handy during arctic winters when soft food became a rarity.

The study authors wrote: "Global warming is transforming Arctic ecosystems in ways that are difficult to predict, but ancient episodes of global warming show how future changes in the Arctic might unfold. The first primate-like fossils ever recovered north of Arctic...

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