Early humans may have survived the harsh winters by hibernating
Seasonal damage in bone fossils in Spain suggests Neanderthals and their predecessors followed the same strategy as cave bears
Bears do it. Bats do it. Even European hedgehogs do it. And now it turns out that early human beings may also have been at it. They hibernated, according to fossil experts.
Evidence from bones found at one of the world’s most important fossil sites suggests that our hominid predecessors may have dealt with extreme cold hundreds of thousands of years ago by sleeping through the winter.
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Excavations in Trinchera Zarpazos, part of the Galería system. Mario Modesto Mata, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
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