The hedgehog | Facts & Information

A small ball, alive, covered with a lot of spines. Sharp muzzle, sparkling eyes. This is the Hedgehog (Erinaceinae), one of the most beloved animals – character in the fairy tales of many peoples, cartoon hero. In the wild, hedgehogs live in large areas of Europe, Asia, Africa and New Zealand, but not on the two American continents.

Scientifically called Erinaceus europaeus, the common Hedgehog is native to Europe but has also been introduced to New Zealand. Also, relatives of the common Hedgehog live in other areas ,in various habitats (from sand dunes to even Gardens on the outskirts of cities), hibernating between four and six months a year. The Hedgehog is an insectivorous animal that, in addition to insects, also eats Bream, spiders and slug snails.

Feeding Hedgehogs

The Hedgehog is an insectivorous animal that, in addition to insects, also eats Bream, spiders and slug snails. And if most insectivores flee at the first sign of danger, the Hedgehog reacts in a very special way. With its back covered with nearly 6,000 sharp spines, the Hedgehog crouches like a ball when threatened and flaps its spines, thus protecting itself against most predators.

Highly regarded as an enemy of insects, the Hedgehog was introduced precisely because of this quality in New Zealand and Scotland. Before long, however, he turned himself into a small pest. How? With so few natural enemies, hedgehogs multiplied very quickly and ended up consuming far more insects than initially estimated, when they were brought precisely for this purpose.

As a result, the food became insufficient, the hedgehogs began to diversify their menu, eating other "delicacies", among which the eggs of waders. But this accident of adaptation was just an unfortunate result of insufficient study of all the implications of naturalization.

The appreciation and sympathy that hedgehogs have always enjoyed are very old: the Romans even celebrated, on February 2, The Day Of The Hedgehog. It was the date when hedgehogs were thought to leave their hibernating hiding place and show themselves to humans again.

And this Hedgehog Day continued to be celebrated by many European peoples, and was even "exported" to the other shore of the Atlantic Ocean. But, having no such insectivorous mammals, the Americans adapted the day of the Hedgehog, choosing the marmot as a representative animal and thus celebrating, year after year, the day of the Marmot.

Appearance Hedgehog

If most insectivores flee at the first sign of danger, the Hedgehog reacts in a very special way. With its back covered with nearly 6,000 sharp spines, the Hedgehog crouches like a ball when threatened and flaps its spines, thus protecting itself against most predators.

The most adaptable to pet life are the White pantecos, algerian, indian hedgehogs (the last two having long ears) and those of the breed called four-toed hedgehogs.

The spines that make it so easy to recognize the Hedgehog are not venomous (as in other species) and not as unpleasant as the Porcupine, for example, but they provide the little insectivore with a very effective protection against predators, the only successful attacks taking place at night or by surprise.

Therefore, among the few natural enemies of the Hedgehog are owls and ferrets. For hedgehogs that live in forests or crops crossed by roads, other enemies (unwillingly) are careless drivers, many spiky specimens ending up under the wheels of speeding cars.

Hedgehog Behavior

Hedgehogs avoid going out for a walk during the day, preferring to hide in secluded places and postponing the meal after dark. At night, hedgehogs start looking for their favorite food: various species of insects, Bream, certain snails and a lot of worms.

Because this menu is mostly made up of crop pests, farmers and gardeners appreciate the hedgehogs and try to get them to visit their property, baiting them with food. Only, unfortunately, not all people know that hedgehogs have a lactose intolerance, the consumption of milk (or its derivatives) doing much harm to spiky insect hunters. In contrast, dog or cat food is much more to the liking of hedgehogs, even if – for their needs – it is too high in fat and too low in protein.

So, if you want to attract a hedgehog to your garden, try with dairy-free products in small quantities so that he can quench his hunger with the insects that bother you (a hedgehog eats, every night, over 200 grams of pests). Be careful, though! Even though hedgehogs are immune to many of the poisons and most insecticides, their lives can be put at risk when they feed in treated crops, swallowing insecticide-filled creatures can cause death.

Breeding Hedgehogs

The life of the Hedgehog, by the way, is quite short. In freedom, specimens of small species live between two and four years, being able to reach 6-7 years only in captivity. Hedgehogs of larger breeds live between four and seven years in the wild, their life expectancy increasing quite significantly if they are cared for in captivity.

A record of longevity was recorded on a French farm, where a hedgehog lived for 17 years! And if there were Hospitals for hedgehogs, the number of their patients would be very high, due to diseases they can suffer from: cancer (especially skin tumors), diseases of the heart and liver and the so-called "wobbly Hedgehog syndrome" (a disease that affects the control of muscles and leads to an unsteady, intertwined gait).

When they come into the world, the little hedgehogs are usually three or four siblings, born after a gestation period that, from one breed to another, can be between 30 and 58 days. Puppies are born with shorter and less sharp spikes, which they are to change with the mature ones after the first year of life. A mature specimen weighs around one kilogram and has a length of 20-30 centimeters.