News Life 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 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 Share this:EmailFacebookTwitterPinterestPocketRedditPrint By Freda Kreier January 25, 2023 at 2:00 pm 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.