It will not have escaped you, we are men, mammals. This means that we are in the same big family as cows, lions, bears or our friends cats and dogs. Does this characteristic make us capable of doing the same thing as them? No, of course. But 500,000 years ago, one of our ancestors tried to reproduce a well -known animal behavior: Hiberner. A study revealed that he had failed.
We observe this behavior in certain mammals such as hedgehog, European gray loor or, of course, in many bear species. So why not us?
If it seems that we are incapable of it today, a study published in 2020 in the journal Anthropology Haded that one of our distant ancestors had tried the exercise. Thus, to be more precise, the human being was able to hibernate.
Indeed, based on the study of hominid fossils found in Spain in Atapuerca, paleoanthropologists have highlighted traces of this special behavior. It is in the Mayor cellar, a particular archaeological site that the remains of human ancestors were found.
And it is surely in this same cellar as well as those around that these hominids have tried hibernation. Offering a natural shelter against the elements and having served as a daily habitat for many prehistoric men, the cellars would also have served as a shelter to hibernate. Much like cave bears would have done.
A very little conclusive test
If today, we are probably not able to hibernate, it can possibly explain because nature has considered that it was not compatible with us.
And that, we noticed it directly on the fossils found in Spain. Indeed, by studying the skeletons discovered in the cellars, the paleoanthropologists have highlighted several cases of rachitism, namely bone deformations resulting in many serious complications for the individual.
And this rachitism was mainly due to two things that go hand in hand with hibernating: the lack of food and therefore the supply of nutrients for the development of the organism as well as a severe vitamin D deficiency which is “synthesized by the body at the level of the skin under the action of the sun's rays”Explain to us Environmental cancer.
In other words, we failed to hibernate because we lacked food and sun. But how do be bears, for example, do they get there?
Well, it must be understood that when the bear does not sleep a part of the year, it eats a lot to make fat reserves and it happens.
In addition, when the time comes to hibernate, he is able to regulate his body to lower his body temperature and slow down the beats of his heart to operate as a sub-regime and thus be able to drastically reduce his resource needs that her body will draw directly into his fats.
This is how the bear can sleep for several months without suffering from the consequences of the undernutrition. While we, during the winter, we must continue to work.
Source : Popular Mechanics
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