Japanese monkeys are an example of a primate who may be living in a climate more like that of his ancestors than previously thought
A new study has rewritten the theory of evolution for 66 million years, challenging the conventional thinking that our ancestors came from warm rainforests. After all, the first members of our evolutionary genealogical tree will have come from the cold.
Researchers at the University of Reading (United Kingdom) analyzed 479 primates species (178 extinct, through fossils, and 301 living) in North America, Asia and Europe, to accompany how species richness, climate tolerance and geographical distribution have changed over time.
To Challenge the acceptance that primates came from the “hot rainforest”Researchers had to rebuild evolutionary relationships between species, geographical locations and climatic conditions of their ancestors. This required a timeline of about 66 million years.
The team merged genomic data and fossils from hundreds of primates species and, using an existing “superstar” of primate relations, the researchers paired a complex map with detailed geographical and climate locations to dissect the evolution of characteristics in relation to these external factors.
Then, through Bayesian biogeographic modeling – a statistical method that calculates the likelihood of different ancestral states, such as the location of primates or the climate zone of the time – added more detail to each branch of the superstar. The week in PNAS.
As detailed to, the researchers found that some of the first ancestors of primates most likely supported extreme heat and cold stations and had highly variable resources availability based on these seasonal oscillations.
From this, it was possible to infer that these ancient primates were animals very resilient, with a generalist diet and capable of supporting such rigorous and unpredictable environments.
Researchers believe that these first primates probably lived in the North America, in a cold climate with hot summers, but cold winters – Which drops a history of origin widely accepted about half a century ago.
“For decades, the idea that primates have evolved in hot rainforests has not been questioned,” he told New Atlas, JORGE DELAUTUREOResearch Leader, from the University of Reading.
“Our discoveries completely reverse this narrative. After all, primates did not emerge from luxurious jungles – came from cold and seasonal environments in the northern hemisphere, ”he says.
How will they have gone to the tropical forests?
According to his theory, primates who could survive these rigorous conditions and overcome local climate limits had Biological “aptitude” To reproduce and then move gradually further, so that different external influences-in terms of environment, resources and climate led to the evolution of new species.
Thus, millions of years later, as climates changed-sometimes quickly-the primates who adapted well managed to move to new regions and diversify even more. This, believe the researchers, explains how Many species eventually inhabited tropical forests.
