Hedgehod
Hedgehod
COMMON NAME: Hedgehog
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| Source : National Geographic Kids |
SCIENTIFIC NAME: Erinaceus europaeus
TYPE: Mammals
DIET: Carnivores
SIZE: Head and body, 5 to 12 in; tail, 1 to 2 in
WEIGHT: 14 to 39 oz
SIZE RELATIVE TO A TEACUP:
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| Source : National Geographic |
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| Source : National Geographic Kids |
Hedgehogs have prickly spines everywhere except on their face, legs, and bellies. By curling into a tight ball and tucking in their heads, tail, and legs, they protect the parts of their bodies that do not have stiff, sharp spines. Often compared to pincushions, hedgehogs depend on their spines for defense-both while they sleep and when they face enemies.
The head and body of adult hedgehogs range from 5 to 12 inches (13 to 30 centimeters) long and their tail can add 1 to 2 inches (3-5 centimeters).
When are born-up to seven in a litter-their spines are soft and short. Soon after birth, their spines harden, becoming stiffer, sharper, and longer. Babies stay in the nest until they're about three weeks old. By that time, their eyes are open, their spines are effective, and they can safely follow their mother outside the nest as she looks for food.
Top on the hedgehog's menu are insects, followed by small mice, snails, lizards, frogs, eggs, and even snakes.
Hedgehogs sometimes add extra protection to their spines by "self-anointing." Immune to poisons in some plants, hedgehogs sometimes eat those plants and then make a frothy saliva in their mouths. The hedgehogs then lick their spines, spreading the saliva with the plant's poison all over the spikes. Though hedgehogs mainly stay on the ground, they swim quite well and even climb trees.
A hedgehog's heart rate goes from 190 beats per minutes to 20 while hibernating.
ABOUT THE HEDGEHOG
The hedgehog was named because of its peculiar foraging methods. These animals root through hedges and other undergrowth in search of the small creatures that compose the bulk of their diet—insects, worms, centipedes, snails, mice, frogs, and snakes. As a hedgehog picks its way through the hedges it emits piglike grunts—thus, the hedgehog.
Some people consider hedgehogs useful pets because they prey on many common garden pests. While on the hunt, they rely upon their senses of hearing and smell because their eyesight is weak.
Defensive Adaptations and Hibernation
Hedgehogs have a coat of stiff, sharp spines. If attacked they will curl into a prickly and unappetizing ball that deters most predators. They usually sleep in this position during the day and awaken to search for food at night.
Hedgehogs hibernate in cold climates. In deserts, they sleep through heat and drought in a similar process called aestivation. They remain active all year in more temperate locations.
Reproduction and lifespan
Depending on the species, the gestation period is 35–58 days. The average litter is 3–4 newborns for larger species and 5–6 for smaller ones. As with many animals, it is not unusual for an adult male hedgehog to kill newborn males.
Hedgehogs have a relatively long lifespan for their size. Larger species of hedgehogs live 4–7 years in the wild (some have been recorded up to 16 years), and smaller species live 2–4 years (4–7 in captivity), compared to a mouse at 2 years and a large rat at 3–5 years. Lack of predators and controlled diet contribute to a longer lifespan in captivity (8–10 years depending on size).
Hedgehogs are born blind with a protective membrane covering their quills, which dries and shrinks over the next several hours.The quills emerge through the skin after they have been cleaned, or it falls off.
Culinary and medicinal use
Hedgehogs are a food source in many cultures. Hedgehogs were eaten in Ancient Egypt and some recipes of the Late Middle Ages call for hedgehog meat. Hedgehogs are traded throughout Eurasia and Africa for traditional medicine and witchcraft. In the Middle East and especially among Bedouins, hedgehog meat is considered medicinal, and thought to cure rheumatism and arthritis. They are also said to cure a variety of illnesses and disorders from tuberculosis to impotence. In Morocco, inhaling the smoke of the burnt skin or bristles is a purported remedy for fever, male impotence, and urinary illnesses. The blood is sold as a cure for ringworm, cracked skin and warts and the flesh is eaten as a remedy for witchcraft. Romani people still eat hedgehogs, boiled or roasted, and also use the blood and the fat for its supposed medicinal value.During the 1980s, "hedgehog-flavour" crisps were introduced in Britain, although the product did not contain any hedgehog.
Human influence
As with most small mammals living around humans, cars pose a great threat to hedgehogs. Many are run over as they attempt to cross roadways.
In 2006, McDonald's changed the design of their McFlurry containers to be more hedgehog-friendly. Previously, hedgehogs would get their heads stuck in the container as they tried to lick the remaining food from inside the cup. Then, being unable to get out, they would starve to death. Domesticated hedgehogs display this behavior by getting their head stuck in tubes (commonly, lavatory paper tubes) and walking around with the tube on their head. Hedgehog owners often refer to this as "tubing" and promote the behavior by supplying clean tubes. Most owners are considerate enough, however, to cut the tubes lengthwise so as to prevent the hedgehog from remaining trapped against their will. Curiously though, some will still knowingly get themselves stuck for a few hours.
In Ireland, hedgehogs are one of the most common mammalian road fatalities. Between the years of April 2008 and November 2010 and a total of 50,430 km, there were 133 hedgehog fatalities. Of the 135 hedgehog carcasses collected from throughout Ireland, there were significantly more males than females collected, with peaks in male deaths occurring in May and June. Female deaths only outnumbered males in August, with further peaks in female deaths observed in June and July. It is suggested that these peaks are related to the breeding season (adults) and dispersal/exploration following independence.
Physical description
Hedgehogs are easily recognized by their spines, which are hollow hairs made stiff with keratin. Their spines are not poisonous or barbed and unlike the quills
of a porcupine, do not easily detach from their bodies. However,
the immature animal's spines normally fall out as they are replaced with adult
spines. This is called "quilling". Spines can also shed when the
animal is diseased or under extreme stress.
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Source : Wikipedia
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A defense that all species of hedgehogs possess is the ability
to roll into a tight ball, causing all of the spines to point outwards. The hedgehog's back
contains two large muscles that control the position of the quills. When the
creature is rolled into a ball, the quills on the back protect the tucked face,
feet, and belly, which are not quilled. Since the effectiveness of this
strategy depends on the number of spines, some desert hedgehogs that evolved to
carry less weight are more likely to flee or even attack, ramming an intruder
with the spines; rolling into a spiny ball for those species is a last resort.
The various species are prey to different predators: while forest hedgehogs are
prey primarily to birds (especially owls) and ferrets, smaller species like the long-eared hedgehog are prey to foxes, wolves, and mongooses.
Hedgehogs are primarily nocturnal, though some
species can also be active during the day. Hedgehogs sleep for a large portion
of the day under bushes, grasses, rocks, or most commonly in dens dug in the
ground, with varying habits among the species. All wild hedgehogs can hibernate, though not all do, depending on temperature,
species, and abundance of food.
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Hedgehog's Skeleton
Source : Wikipedia
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Hedgehogs are fairly vocal and communicate through a combination
of grunts, snuffles and/or squeals, depending on species.
Hedgehogs occasionally perform a ritual called anointing. When the animal
encounters a new scent, it will lick and bite the source, then form a scented
froth in its mouth and paste it on its spines with its tongue. The purpose of this habit is unknown, but some experts
believe anointing camouflages the hedgehog with the
new scent of the area and provides a possible poison or source of infection to
predators poked by their spines. Anointing is sometimes also called anting because of a similar behavior in birds.
Like opossums, mice, and moles, hedgehogs have some
natural immunity against some snake venom through the protein
erinacin in the animal's muscular system, although it is only available in
small amounts and a viper bite may still be
fatal.In addition, hedgehogs
are one of four known mammalian groups with mutations that protect against
another snake venom, α-neurotoxin. Pigs, honey badgers, mongooses, and hedgehogs all have mutations in the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor that prevent the snake venom α-neurotoxin from binding, though those
mutations developed separately and independently.
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