Flash
2/2/26
World Hedgehog Day
World Hedgehog Day is on the 2nd February every year. The aim of the day is to raise awareness of the need to protect them. Hedgehog numbers have dramatically decreased, meaning there are far fewer hedgehogs than there once was. They are considered vulnerable to extinction in the UK. This is the level below endangered.
The main reason for hedgehog numbers being so low are loss of their habitats, the use of pesticides, road traffic, and fences blocking their way.
One of the main things people can do to help hedgehogs is to create hedgehog friendly gardens, such as leaving piles of leaves for them to hide in, leaving water out for them, avoiding using things such as slug pellets and making small gaps in fences to create ‘hedgehog highways’ so they can move around more freely.
A hedgehog curled up. They can curl up much tighter than this though to protect their whole body.
A hedgehog's spines glow under uv light!
10 facts about hedgehogs
1. There are thought to be 17 species of hedgehogs that can be found living across Europe, Africa and Asia. They have also been introduced in New Zealand. The species that can be found in the UK is the European Hedgehog. Hedgehogs are found in habitats such as gardens, woodlands, and grasslands.
2. They have between 5,000 and 7,000 spines on their back, that are made of keratin. This is the same stuff our hair is made out of, but their spines are hollow and much denser so they are much tougher than hair. These spines provide them with protection against predators that might want to eat them.
3. When hedgehogs are scared they roll themselves into a tight ball, which means their spines protect the parts of their body that aren’t protected, like their tummy.
4. Hoglets, which are baby hedgehogs, are born with their eyes closed and spines hidden under their skin, which harden soon after they are born.
5. The longest living hedgehog was a male European Hedgehog called Thorvald. He lived to be 16 years old, which was much longer than the previous record, which was 9 years old. Usually hedgehogs only live for a few years in the wild, with male hedgehogs usually living a bit longer.
6. Hedgehogs are nocturnal which means they are mostly active at night. They sleep for as long as 18 hours during the day.
7. Hedgehogs have poor eyesight but an excellent sense of smell and hearing that helps them explore the world around them and helps them find their prey. They actually travel quite far each night in search of food, often walking for about 2 miles! They are also much quicker than you’d think, and can move as fast as 5 miles an hour when they need to.
8. Hedgehogs are omnivores. They eat things such as slugs, snails, beetles, worms, as well as things such as berries, eggs and even small mammals, if they can catch them! One thing they shouldn’t have is milk, as they are lactose intolerance and it would make them feel ill. Their predators depend on where they live. In the UK their main predator is badgers. Other creatures such as foxes and birds of prey might also occasionally try and eat a hedgehog, especially hoglets.
9. During the winter they hibernate to save energy. This is like going into an incredibly deep sleep. During this time their heartbeat slows from 190 beats a minute to less than 20 beats per minute. Although this helps them to not use up too much energy they loose about a third of their body weight while they hibernate.
10. A hedgehog’s spines glow in the dark! Under UV light a their spines actually glow a pink/red colour.
Have you ever seen a hedgehog in the wild?
Baby hedgehogs are called hoglets.
Photos and illustrations in this blog post are Whizzbots and Public Domain Images.