北極についての記事です。
Scientists at the University of Kansas found fossils of these ancient near-primates north of the Arctic Circle, where they lived in a swamplike environment along with crocodiles. The tiny primate relatives adapted to survive the food scarcity of dark Arctic winters for half the year, evolving heartier jaws to crunch on seeds and nuts.
The unexpected discovery of such animals so far north could provide prophetic context for the changes that the northern polar region faces again today, compelling researchers to question what species could flourish — and which ones could disappear — due to a human-driven climate crisis.
Facing the extremes as an Arctic photographer | CNN
今回取り上げるのはprophetic/prəˈfetɪk/です。以下調べていきます。
『ウィズダム英和辞典』(第四版)には「予言通りの、正しく言い当てて；予言的な；予言に関する」と定義されています。
LDOCEには“correctly saying what will happen in the future”とあります。
Online Etymology Dictionaryには“"pertaining to or relating to a prophet or prophecy," late 15c., prophetik, from Old French prophétique (15c.) and directly from Late Latin propheticus, from Greek prophētikos "pertaining to a prophet, oracular," from prophētēs.”と語源説明がありました。
本文では「北極圏の変化を予言するもの」と解釈できると思われます。
北極圏に大昔はワニが生息していたとは知らなかったのでそのことにも驚かされました。(Lucas)