Strange Primates Lived in Arctic 52 Million Years Ago
- Kristen Miller
The main challenge for animals living so far north is a lack of food. Under such conditions, vegetation is likely to be scarce during the long, dark winters, so the researchers hypothesize that Arctic animals in the Ignaceous genus likely subsisted on tough-to-chew foods, such as seeds or tree bark.
Compared to their more southerly Arctic primate relatives, their cheekbones protrude farther from the skull which means their jaw muscles probably do too, "The mechanical result of moving these masticatory muscles forward is to produce greater bite force," Beard says.
The adaptation to northern latitudes didn't stop at the jaw. The animals are also much larger than their southern relatives.
 "Five pounds doesn't sound very big, but compared to their ancestors, these are giants. The closest relative of this animal we found in Wyoming is about the size of a squirrel," he explains.
Overall, there is a general trend in ecology called Bergmann's rule which states that the further away animals live from the equator, the larger they become.
Size is a general adaptation to colder temperatures, and for animal species typically found in the tropics, the coastal climate of modern Georgia would be quite cool, requiring a large size to minimize heat loss. As the planet warms, more species will likely colonize the Arctic. But as in the case of Ignacius, many won’t simply colonize but may diversify into new species once there.
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