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Many animals [hibernation / hibernate] for the winter. They stock [down / up] on food and hide away in a hole or cave to escape the snow and cold. Scientists now [belief / believe] early human beings may have hibernated too. The scientists looked at the fossils [off / of] bones from our early ancestors who [lived / live] around 430,000 years ago. The bones were found in a site in the north of Spain. The scientists are [experts / expats] in studying fossils and ancient bones. They say that the cuts and other signs [to / of] damage on the bones they examined are [similar / same] to those on bones of animals who hibernate, like [bear / bears] . They also say that early humans may have hibernated to escape the extreme cold. Winters were much [colder / cold] hundreds of thousands of years ago.

The scientists looked [at / to] the bones of several dozen humans. Scientist Antonis Bartsiokas said there [be / is] evidence that early humans slowed down their metabolism so they could [survival / survive] longer in winter without food. However, humans could not [show / slow] their metabolism like a bear. Bears can wake up after months of hibernation and their body will be the [similar / same] as when they went into hibernation. The bones [off / of] the early humans showed people [suffered / suffering] health problems because of hibernation. Many of the problems were caused by a [slack / lack] of vitamin D, which we [get / shine] from sunlight. This can make our bones weaker. The researchers said: "We have to emphasise that hibernations are not [ever / always] healthy."