Hedgehogs!Tatiana E. Mercado

Ms. ConferBiology

What are hedgehogs?

Hedgehogs are spiny mammals that can be classified into the animalia kingdom

The spines on hedgehogs are poisonous, like the ones on porcupines, however, the spines usually come out when they are babies and outgrow their baby spines.

Can usually be spotted after rainstorms

Diet =P

Although they’re not entirely, hedgehogs can be counted as insectivores.

They usually feed on insects, small snails, frogs, and toads as well as other things such as watermelons.

Lifespan

Lager species of hedgehogs may live between 4 and 7 years. However, smaller ones usually live between 2 and 4 (may vary in captivity)

They have a lack of predators and eat relatively healthy, which contribute to the fact that they have large life spans compared to their size.

breeding

Breeding season lasts from about April until September, the main points of activity is in May and June, when the nights are warm.

Hedgehogs stay pregnant for about four and a half weeks

Baby’ies are usually born between june and july

And spaeking of pups

BABIES!

When hedgehogs are born their spines are below the skin, so they don’t hurt their mom. They’re blind at first, but after about 2 weeks their spines begin to show more, and their eyes open. Hedgehogs also have baby teeth. These fall out by about week 3.

Habitats

The hedgehog habitat is mainly woodlands and meadows, but they are also commonly found in sub-urban gardens.

They have a few nests and usually came out at night to look for their insects due to being nocturnal.

Hibernation

Hedgehogs Hibernate? Y.E.S. Why? They usually do in order to

survive. Insects become scare during winter, so

they eat a lot before hibernating. Hibernating is one of the biggest

causes of death amoungst them. Nests can be washed away, and they

can be ran over.

Other Dangers

Besides Hibernation, other dangers include:

Bonfires Vehicles Lawn Mowers And slug pellets

Bonfires and Lawn mowers

Bonfires pose a real threat for hedgehogs. They often nest for hibernation in piles of leaves, which turn into bonfires. Then the bonfires are set on fire, and the hedgehogs die.

Hedgehogs are often hurt by lawn mowers, especially if the grass is long because then you can barely see them.

Vehicles and Slug pellets

many of us will have seen squashed hedgehogs on the roads when driving by, and statistics say about 12,000 to 15,000 hedgehogs are killed on our roads every year, which is very bad

Although some may be found, hedgehogs aren't known for eating slug pellets, but the slugs they eat may be poisoned

Hedgehog senses

The hedgehog uses the same senses as us, such as:

Smell Taste Sight Hearing

Sense of Smell

smell is the primary sense of hedgehogs. They use it more than any other sense, and it is probably the best sense. With smell, a hedgehog can finds its food, recognize other hedgehogs and sense the presence of danger

The hedgehog is constantly sniffing the ground as it walks, that way it can find its food

The other senses

Their sense of sight is very basic and unlike humans, the don't use it much. They mostly see in shades of brown and cream

It use hearing a lot to detect it's prey, and danger. If a hedgehogs hear a worm, it would be rather loud.

hedgehogs do not care what food tastes like! They’re well known to eat insects that other insectivores will not eat.

Hedgehogs with no quills?

There has been a recent discovery of a hedgehog with no quills.

No one is positive as to why it doesn’t have them, but it need them to survive.

They’ve kept him in order to not only keep him alive, but study him aswell.

Sponsors! Many people know of hedgehogs

thanks to Sonic The Hedgehog! Which make people want to own one…but its illegal because PA Game Commission now feels that all hedgehogs are "progeny of initially illegally imported hedgehogs"

A.CUTE.VIDEO. CILANTRO…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OrLRioWoLE&feature=related

Sources

Google.com http://www.wildlife-web.org.uk