Hedgehog (Erinaceus europaeus)
- Hedgehogs have been spotted occasionally on Cowbar by several residents, often in the darkening evenings, but this summer, 2022, when we began experimenting with tracking tunnels and camera boxes, we realised that there were several individuals and families making their home in the grassland.
- Hedgehogs can survive in a range of habitats in towns and cities as well as the countryside, but they do not like to live on uplands, mountainsides, pine forests or wetlands.
- There are 17 different species of hedgehog found across Europe, Asia and Africa. Its name comes from its preferred habitat – hedgerows. Other traditional names include urchin, hedgepig and furze-pig.
- A group of hedgehogs is called an ‘array’ (or sometimes ‘a prickle’ ) but although they are not territorial, they are usually solitary animals so this term isn’t used much.
- They can travel more than a mile a night looking for food or a mate.
- There are approximately 5000 – 7000 spines on the average hedgehog. These quills are mostly hollow and light but strong. If attacked, they roll into a tight ball so only their spines are exposed.
- Baby hedgehogs are called ‘urchins’ or ‘hoglets’ and there are usually 4 to 6 to a litter, but there can be as many as 10. When they are born, their spines are soft, white and covered in a membrane, but they come through and harden within a couple of days of birth. Their eyes open after 14 days, their teeth come through in about 3 weeks and they can follow their mother out of the nest to look for food. They become independent in about 8 weeks.
- They are noisy eaters, snuffling and grunting as they search for food, and survive on mainly insects. They eat a lot of caterpillars, earthworms and beetles but will eat other insects and sometimes birds’ eggs. They will also eat mice, frogs and snakes and are immune to snake venom. They have an intolerance to milk though.
- They are mainly nocturnal and hibernate between November and March.
- Their eyesight is poor but they have good hearing and a well-developed sense of smell. They use a wide range of sounds to communicate with each other.
- Hedgehogs are good runners and can even swim.
- When a hedgehog encounters a new odour or taste, it can secrete a white foam from its mouths which it then rubs over its spines. This is called ‘self-anointing’. It is linked to the fact that the hedgehog is immune to certain poisonous plants. If it eats these plants and spreads the froth other its spines, it can give itself some protection from predators by hiding its own scent and possibly making itself taste bad.
- Hedgehogs are one of the oldest species of mammal on the planet. In 2015, scientists in Spain discovered fossil remains of a close relative of the hedgehog from 125 million years ago. Hedgehogs were here when the UK became an island, 10,000 years ago. The Mediterranean hedgehog was the size of a pig and evolution has reduced them to the size we recognise today.
- The Ancient Egyptians saw hedgehogs as good creatures. They created hedgehog amulets which they thought would protect them from snake venom. In China the hedgehog is sacred.
- In Ireland, the word for hedgehog is ‘gráinneog’, which translates as ‘little ugly thing’. During medieval times, farmers believed that hedgehogs were thieves who stole eggs and stole milk from their cows by sucking on them at night.
- Hedgehogs are threatened by traffic, loss of hedgerows and other habitat, the use of pesticides and the decline in insect populations. Fifty years ago it is estimated there were 36 million hedgehogs in the UK. Now numbers are estimated at about 1 million and going down rapidly. They are listed as a priority species under the UK Biodiversity Action Plan.
