Fossils suggest early primates lived in a once-swampy Arctic

The animals probably moved north as the planet warmed, to a new habitat opening near the poles

A wide photo of a valley on Ellesmere Island in Canada with mountains in the background.

Ellesmere Island in Canada was once home to warm, temperate swamps — and a small primate or close relative that lived millions of years ago.

Josh Forwood/Alamy Stock Photo

The Arctic today is a hostile place for most primates. But a series of fossils found since the 1970s suggest that wasn’t always the case.