Origin, lifestyle and structural features of hedgehogs

It turns out that the hedgehog belongs to the hedgehog family, which is one of the oldest families of insectivores on our planet! This means that the hedgehog eats insects, not apples and mushrooms! And during hibernation in winter, it survives on subcutaneous fat, which, as you know, cannot be accumulated on apples; you need to eat something more nutritious, for example, insects. And then we completely immersed ourselves in the study of hedgehog life.

The first hedgehogs appeared many millions of years ago, when dinosaurs still lived. The most common of all hedgehogs is the common or European hedgehog. He lives throughout the entire space from Europe to the Pacific Ocean. The long-eared hedgehog lives in the southern steppes, semi-deserts and deserts of Eurasia. It is smaller in size and has larger ears. The Daurian hedgehog lives in the steppes of Transbaikalia and Mongolia, and in the mountains and deserts of Africa and the Middle East you can find a bald hedgehog.

The Amur hedgehog lives in our Far East. It is found in northern China, on the Korean Peninsula and in Russia - in the Primorsky Territory, in the south of the Khabarovsk Territory and in the Amur Region (in the floodplains of the Amur and Ussuri rivers). The Amur hedgehog is very similar to an ordinary hedgehog, but has a lighter color. Up to a third of its needles are devoid of pigment, so the overall color of its needles is light brown. The fur on the belly is brown, hard, and bristly. On the back and back of the body there are needles up to twenty-four millimeters long. Its body length is eighteen to twenty-six centimeters. Weight, depending on the time of year, ranges from two hundred thirty-four to one thousand ninety-two grams.

How are hedgehogs different?

The hedgehog differs from all other animals in that instead of fur it grows needles. They are sharp and strong and do not grow only on the face, neck, tail and abdomen. A hedgehog has fifteen spines on one square centimeter, a total of six to eight thousand. This is the hedgehog's main defense from the dangers of the world around him. Hedgehogs are born naked and weigh ten to fifteen grams, and after two months their weight becomes two hundred and fifty grams. In the first hours of life, bumps form on the skin of the hedgehog, which soon burst and needles appear from them. The needles are soft at first, but soon harden and grow very quickly: one millimeter per day. In an adult hedgehog, the needles inside are empty and filled with air. These animals do not shed like others. It’s just that their needles gradually fall out one by one. And in their place new ones grow. One needle grows from twelve to eighteen months. Therefore, on average, one needle out of three changes per year. But hedgehogs can take a protective pose - curl up into a ball - only after becoming adults, when the special subcutaneous muscle is fully formed, thanks to which hedgehogs acquire this ability.

Another distinctive feature of hedgehogs is that they have thirty-six teeth! In size, hedgehogs reach a length of thirty centimeters and a height of twelve to fifteen centimeters, with females being smaller than males. It turns out that hedgehogs see poorly, and their main sense organ is smell. Hedgehogs can also swim, jump and run at a speed of three meters per second! And these animals have an innate ability to navigate long distances. Scientists conducted the following experiment: they took the hedgehog thirty kilometers from his home, and he was able to find his way home and headed to his site. Under favorable conditions, hedgehogs can live eight to ten years.

Where do hedgehogs live?

The hedgehog lives both on low plains and in mountainous areas, in forests, meadows, fields, and gardens. Deciduous forest with dense bushes or hollow trees rotted at the roots, hedges in gardens, heaps of manure or brushwood, holes in the walls, in short, all places that can provide him with shelter attract him to themselves, and one can confidently expect to find there's a hedgehog here. Hedgehogs like to live alone and do not communicate with each other. The habitat of one hedgehog is about fifty hectares. The female's territory is five times smaller. Each hedgehog works alone to create a comfortable home, under dense bushes, under piles of brushwood or in thorn bushes. This is a fairly spacious nest, consisting of leaves, straw and hay; it is laid somewhere in a hole or under thick branches. If there is no ready-made hole, then the hedgehog himself, with great difficulty, digs a hole and lines it. Such a hole does not exceed thirty centimeters in depth and is equipped with two exits, one of which usually faces south and the other north. Sometimes, however, with a strong north or south wind, the hedgehog, like a squirrel, moves these exits. Hedgehogs are nocturnal. Therefore, if you have a hedgehog in your house, be prepared that its snoring and stomping will not let you sleep at night. Hedgehogs snore loudly because, as we have already mentioned, he perceives the whole world through his sense of smell. And these animals stomp because they step with their entire foot at once, transferring the entire weight of their body to it.

What do they eat?

The hedgehog menu is quite varied. It eats grasshoppers, cockroaches, chafer and dung beetles, grubs, earthworms, small birds, chicks, wood and field mice. Moreover, everyone knows that the hedgehog is not a particularly nimble animal. So how can he catch the mouse? Thanks to your sense of smell! Hedgehogs find mouse holes by smell and wait for the mouse at its hiding place. But the most amazing thing is that hedgehogs eat snakes! And not just any snakes, but poisonous ones. How does this happen? The hedgehog approaches the snake and bites it. The snake rushes at the offender, but the hedgehog pulls its prickly hood over its forehead, and the snake digs into the needles, getting even more angry, it attacks the enemy again and again, but each time it comes across strong and sharp needles. Exhausted from the grueling battle, the snake freezes motionless for some time. And then the hedgehog bites the back of her head and then eats her. But if, during an attack, a snake bites a hedgehog, then he will not feel the effect of the snake’s venom. The ability of hedgehogs to withstand the effects of poison on their body is amazing! Hedgehogs love to eat bees and wasps, but they are not at all afraid of their bites! And a dose of arsenic that is lethal to one hedgehog can kill twenty-five people!

What do hedgehogs do in winter?

The hedgehog's body temperature is about thirty-four degrees, and it makes forty to fifty respiratory cycles per minute. But during hibernation, body temperature drops to two degrees, and breathing rate decreases to six to eight respiratory cycles. But even so, he hears everything, and if danger is suspected, he can curl up into a ball. That's a hedgehog! The duration of hibernation for hedgehogs is determined by climatic conditions. Where winters are warm, these animals sleep for about a month. And in the harsh conditions of Siberia and the Far East, they sleep for up to seven months. The winter den, at the top, is a large, disordered heap of straw, hay, leaves, and moss, and is very carefully lined inside. With the onset of the first severe frost, the hedgehog buries itself deep in its nest and spends the entire cold winter time in continuous hibernation. The insensitivity generally characteristic of this animal, even during the period of its vigorous activity, reaches its highest degree at this time; only if he is very agitated will he wake up for a minute, stagger from side to side and then immediately fall asleep again in a “dead” sleep. It is interesting that where the number of frosty days exceeds two hundred and fifty per year, hedgehogs do not live at all, because they do not have time to raise offspring and accumulate fat reserves in less than four months. During their sleep, hedgehogs lose a lot of weight. In the fall, before hibernation, the animal weighs seven hundred and fifty to nine hundred grams, and in the spring about three hundred and fifty!

Does the hedgehog have enemies?

A big problem for hedgehogs is the countless number of fleas, ticks, and lice-eaters that find refuge between the needles. To get rid of them, hedgehogs use strong-smelling substances. They often ride on carrion, rub themselves against the poisonous skin of toads, “bathe” in anthills and even roll around in cigarette butts. The image of a hedgehog carrying apples on its back to its hole as winter supplies has a real origin. By stringing wild apples onto thorns, hedgehogs inject parasites with their sour juice. It is not safe to keep hedgehogs at home, as they are carriers of serious diseases. For example, tick-borne encephalitis.

I wonder if such a thorny animal has enemies in the forest? Try to get to him when he's curled up in a ball! It turns out that it is not for nothing that the fox is the most cunning animal in fairy tales. She won't let the hedgehog go just like that. To begin with, he will try to roll it into the water, where the hedgehog will immediately turn around and become defenseless. But bodies of water are not always nearby. Then the fox empties his bladder on the hedgehog, and the hedgehog simply cannot bear this, he immediately forgets about the danger and turns around. Eagle owls also hunt hedgehogs. Their beaks and paws are so long and insensitive that they can easily grab a hedgehog by its spiky armor.

How do people feel about hedgehogs?

What is the relationship between a person and a hedgehog? Many people catch hedgehogs to keep them in their homes. But! As we found out, this is not the best pet. But within a week of living, it will destroy all insects in the house, if any. It turns out that only gypsies and other nomadic people eat hedgehogs, but their meat is still edible; lovers have even invented a special way of preparing it. Real masters of culinary art coat the hedgehog with a thick layer of sticky clay mixture and place it in the fire in this shell, making sure that it does not burn, and to do this, turning it from side to side from time to time; As soon as the layer of clay becomes dry and hard, remove the roast from the heat, allow it to cool a little and then peel off the shell, along with which the needles stuck to the clay come off. With this method of cooking, all the juices remain in the roast, and the result is an excellent dish, according to those who eat it. In the past, a lot of hedgehogs were eaten in Spain, especially during Lent. Among the ancients, the hedgehog also had its place in medicine: its blood, entrails and even droppings were used to prepare various medicines. And now hedgehog fat is considered a healing agent. The ancient Romans used the prickly skin of this animal to nap woolen cloth and therefore carried on a lively trade in hedgehog skins, which brought in such significant income that a special resolution of the Senate was required to regulate it. In addition, the prickly skin was used as a comb for carding flax. Some rural owners still use hedgehog skin when they need to wean a calf from its mother; To do this, a piece of prickly hedgehog skin is tied to the sucker’s nose and this forces the mother to avoid the pet, which is already becoming painful for her, and to accustom him to other food. In addition to all this, some hat makers prepare a special kind of prickly hats from natural hedgehog skin.

Yes, and in nature, humans greatly influence hedgehog life. During forest fires, which in a huge number of cases are caused by humans, many hedgehogs die. Because a hedgehog’s natural reaction to smoke is to curl up into a ball, not to escape. These animals cannot roll around curled up into a ball, as in cartoons. The hedgehog's main enemy today is the car. In areas where there are a lot of roads, about a quarter of the hedgehogs living in these places die under the wheels every year. And another reason for the increased mortality of hedgehogs is the use of chemical fertilizers in agriculture.