: Why aren’t we hibernating in winter like most of other mammals ?
In: Biology
Most Mammals do not hibernate. Only a few species of animals that evolved in cold climates hibernate. And not even all species that evolved in cold climates hibernate. For example caribou, seals, etc do not hibernate.
Humans evolved in tropical regions and by the time we spread to cold climates we had begun using technology to adapt the world to our needs (clothing, fire, building huts) rather than solely adapting to our climate.
Humans evolved in a tropical part of Africa, and are adapted for existing in that sort of environment. We can adapt ourselves to live in colder environments, but have to provide shelter and clothing to survive there. You can live naked in the jungle with very few tools–ask any of the tribes all around the world who pretty much live that way. For the same reason, we’re never going to be able to hibernate, we simply did not evolve that way.
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I don’t exactly know the science behind it, but it’s impossible for anything bigger than a groundhog to hibernate. Bears actually just sleep during the winter, which is totally different (hibernation means slower breathing and heartbeat, lower body temperature). During the winter, animals actually need to periodically pause their hibernation to sleep!
Because we have jobs and rent to pay. Landlord’s not going to care about whether you hibernate, or not.
Most mammals don’t hibernate. Only ones that originate in areas with a hot and cold season do. And even then, there are many in said climate that don’t.
Humans evolved somewhere in Africa, where it is either dry and hot, or rainy and hot. There was no evolutionary pressure to push us toward evolving hibernation. By the time we had expanded into areas with more temperate climates, we had already mastered fire and clothing, once again eliminating any pressures we would have had to evolve hibernation.
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