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Today on Animal Fact Files we’re talking about hedgehogs. One would be forgiven to believe a hedgehog is related to a porcupine. The spines seem like a dead giveaway, however, porcupines and hedgehogs are not closely related. In fact, perhaps the most well known hedgehog doesn’t quite match up with the real animal, but we’ll get to that in just a bit.

Hedgehogs are found throughout Africa, Asia, and Europe and they’ve been introduced to New Zealand, though they didn’t naturally start out there. There are just under twenty described hedgehog species and they can be found in a variety of habitats. Hedgehogs may live in grasslands, scrublands, forests, on mountain slopes, and in urban settings. In fact, they love to make use of the hiding places humans, perhaps unintentionally, provide.

Hedgehogs are primarily nocturnal animals. In the early spring, however, hedgehogs will come out during the day to hunt. Many hedgehog species spend the winter months in a state of low activity during which they won’t eat or drink. As the weather warms up, the hedgehogs wake up and get to eating.

Hedgehogs are primarily insectivores eating beetles, grasshoppers, and other arthropods, but they’ll also eat snails, slugs, mice, eggs, small reptiles, mushrooms, and fruits. When not eating, hedgehogs nap in burrows. These burrows are usually opportunistically found and not made by the hedgehogs themselves. While inside, the hedgehogs are typically safe from animals that would otherwise be trying to eat them including foxes, snakes, and birds of prey like Eurasian eagle owls. These owls in particular are able to contend with a hedgehog’s sharp spines where other predators fail.

Hedgehog spines cover most of their bodies. The sections that aren’t covered, like their faces and bellies, are protected when these small animals sense danger. Hedgehogs will roll up into a tight ball, covering their softer bits and pushing out their spines. In this position, not only are hedgehogs protected from falls as their spines act as an impact buffer, they’re also difficult to consume. There’s even been an observation of a male lion trying to eat a hedgehog but eventually giving up leaving the much smaller animal unscathed.

Adult hedgehogs range in size from 4 to 12 inches (10 to 30.5 centimeters) in length and half a pound to three and a half pounds (226 to 1,587 grams) in weight, and they mate in the summer. Male hedgehogs will seek out females during summer nights, though these ventures end in one night stands. After mating, a male hedgehog will leave his partner, often seeking out another female if the night is still young. The female is resigned to raising the kids on her own. She’ll gestate for just over a month and give birth to four to five babies in a den.

Thankfully for the mama, the babies are born with soft spines. After a few hours, the babies’ spines begin to harden, and after a month their baby spines are replaced with adult spines. It’s at this time they’ll begin venturing out into the world and shortly after their mother leaves them to fend for themselves.

Not only can hedgehogs swim, they can also travel far and wide. In a single night a hedgehog may travel 2 miles (3.2 kilometers), and for short distances they can move at about… four and a half miles per hour. Sonic the hedgehog may be the world’s fastest hedgehog, but his relatives are more built for endurance than speed!

For more facts on hedgehogs, check out the links in the description. Thank you to black koi records for today’s request. Give a thumbs up if you learned something new today, and thank you for watching Animal Fact Files.