HEDGEHOGS
Hedgehog are gentle, somewhat mouselike creatures with white tipped spikes covering most of their body. They are found throughout Europe, Asia and Africa. Their unique design has been so successful the hedgehog has survived for 70 million years, since the age of dinosaurs, virtually unchanged. A few years ago they became popular as pets in the United States. They are popular, pet store owners say, because they don't bite, chew up things, get too big or smell. In the wild, hedgehogs are common in many places, but they have suffered from heavy pesticide use and industrial agriculture. [Source: Chris Reiter and Gina C. Gould, Natural History, July 1998]
Hedgehogs reach a length of about 15 centimeters (six inches) and weigh around half a kilogram (a pound or two). They have poor eyesight but possess acute senses of smell and hearing. Hedgehogs are so named because in England they like to hang around hedges. They are also comfortable in forests, pastures, and backyard gardens. They like to sleep in a burrow or nests of twigs and leaves.
The 7,000 or so spines on the hedgehog's back and sides are actually modified hairs with hair chambers that became stiff when the animal is frightened or angry. Disturbed hedgehogs roll themselves into grapefruit-size balls that are difficult for humans to pick up or predators to bite. Unlike porcupine quills, hedgehog spines are short, lightweight and flexible. When a hedgehog feels threatened special muscles cause it to ball up and cinch its head and legs within a fleshy hood
None of these are as strange as prehistoric hedgehogs. Nine million years a giant carnivorous hedgehog ruled an island in the Mediterranean. Thirty million year ago a hedgehog became so adapted at digging burrows jackhammer-style with its head it may have evolved out its lags and become the first limbless mammal.
Hedgehog Behavior and Feeding
Hedgehogs are primarily solitary ad nocturnal. The hibernate and sometimes estivate (sleep in for period in the summer) and occupy territories of around an acre. After ejaculating sperm male hedgehog produce a kind of plug which seals the female's orifice and prevent competitors from impregnating the female. According to the Nature Lover's Library: Field Guide to the Animals of Britain: "If a hedgehog is seen to froth at the mouth and twist itself about, it is not sick but is spreading the frothy saliva on its fur and spines with its tongue. The purpose of the behavior is unknown, but it is quite normal." This behavior is called self-anointing and is usually done when encountering a strange scent.
Hedgehogs are omnivorous. They feed primarily on insects, spiders, frogs, seeds and other kinds of vegetation. Sometimes the feed on mice, and even snakes. Hedgehogs often rely on their sense of hearing to detect the sounds of prey, such as rustling leaves and scratching and digging insects.
Hedgehogs have a resistance but are not immune to snake venom. The ancient Egyptians used to wear hedgehog amulets to ward off snakebites. The way they fight snakes is roll up in a ball and use their spines to fend off the snake strikes, When the snake wears itself out or is injured by spines, the hedgehog emerges from the ball and goes in for the kill.
Hedgehogs and Literature
Hedgehogs have appeared in Egyptian myths, Greek fables, Chinese poems, Latvian folktales and Monty Python skits. In "Alice in Wonderball" hedgehogs were rolled up like balls and struck with flamingos in the Queen's game of Castle Croquet.
A hedgehog was the featured animal in Beatrice Potter's "The Tale of Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle." "And what are you dipping into the basin of starch?"...There' little dicky shirt-front belonging to Tom Titmouse—most terrible particular!” said Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle.
The 9th-century Chinese poet Chu Chen Pu wrote:
“
He ambles along like a walking pincushion,
Stops and curls like a chestnut burr.
He's not worried because he's so little.
Nobody is going to slap him around. “
Image Sources:
Text Sources: New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Times of London, Lonely Planet Guides, Library of Congress, U.S. government, Compton’s Encyclopedia, The Guardian, National Geographic, Smithsonian magazine, The New Yorker, Time, Newsweek, Reuters, AP, AFP, Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic Monthly, The Economist, Foreign Policy, Wikipedia, BBC, CNN, and various books, websites and other publications.
Last updated May 2016