lot of the time, including through the cold and difficult winter months. Today, we know that hibernating animals walk a very fine line of preparation and subsistence, building fat stores and activating biological triggers to lower body temperature and metabolism. But while modern humans have technology that staves off nutritional diseases, for example, our prehistoric ancestors had no such luck. ZZZZZ It’s in these absences, which leave physical marks on the human skeleton, that researchers have found their clues. Here’s just part of the laundry list of self evident health conditions: “We found trabecular tunneling and osteitis fibrosa, subperiosteal resorption, ‘rotten fence post’ signs, brown tumours, subperiosteal new bone, chondrocalcinosis, rachitic osteoplaques and empty gaps between them, craniotabes, and beading of ribs mostly in the adolescent population of these hominins. [T]hese extinct hominins suffered annually from renal rickets, secondary hyperparathyroidism, and renal osteodystrophy associated with Chronic Kidney Disease - Mineral and Bone Disorder (CKD-MBD). We suggest these diseases were caused by poorly tolerated hibernation in dark cavernous hibernacula.”