Common Hedgehog (Erinaceus europaeus) is found across Europe (Iberia to Scandinavia, Ireland); New Zealand. Wide range of habitat types. Its conservation status is Near Threatened.
Fascinating facts about the Common Hedgehog
- Up to 6,000 spines coat a European hedgehog, each a hollow keratin tube with longitudinal grooves that shave weight, letting the animal roll into a tight ball while keeping the spines erect via the panniculus carnosis muscle sheet. This armor lets it survive attacks from foxes, badgers and even eagle-owls, which must skin the back before eating. The spiny shield therefore turns a tiny 800-gram mammal into a moving fortress.
- European hedgehogs can weigh more than a kilogram in autumn, with adult summer weight averaging around 800 g and a maximum recorded weight of 2,000 g, though few wild specimens exceed 1,600 g. This seasonal fat gain fuels hibernation that can last from October to April in colder zones, allowing the animal to survive months without food.
- A single female can raise four to six newborns per litter, each born blind and spined only under a fluid-filled skin. Within 36 hours the outer coat of spines sprouts, and by day 11 the young can curl into a ball. Weaning occurs at about six weeks, after which the juveniles become independent and can reproduce by their first spring. This rapid early development enables hedgehogs to produce up to two litters per year, buffering populations against high adult mortality from roadkill and predation.
- In Britain, hedgehog numbers have plummeted from an estimated 36.5 million to likely under one million, with a 25 % loss in a single decade and rural populations halved since 2000. Road-kill surveys show a 7 % annual decline in casualties from 2001-2004, reflecting fewer animals on the roads. This steep drop has earned the species Red-Listed status in Great Britain and a place on the 2007 Biodiversity Action Plan, highlighting the urgent need for monitoring.
- Introduced to New Zealand in the late 1800s, hedgehogs spread rapidly, becoming a pest that competes with native birds for invertebrates and preys on rare insects, lizards and ground-nesting birds. Their milder winters mean they hibernate only three months, so they never build the heavy autumn fat stores seen in Europe. Consequently, control programs now kill thousands annually, and road-kill counts have fallen from about 50 per 100 km to less than 1 per 100 km since the 1950s, illustrating how climate and human intervention reshape an invasive species' impact.
Sources
Every fact above was checked against these pages, and kept only where one of them states it.
At a glance
RangeEurope (Iberia to Scandinavia, Ireland); New Zealand
HabitatWide range of habitat types
DietInsects and worms
About the Common Hedgehog
As the sun sets over the rolling hills, a diminutive, spiny silhouette emerges from the underbrush, the common hedgehog embarking on its nocturnal foray with a quiet determination. With a gait that is at once both deliberate and endearing, it waddles through the landscape, its prickly coat glistening in the fading light as it snuffles out a supper of unsuspecting insects. In this fleeting moment, we are reminded of the humble, unassuming beauty of this near-threatened creature, its very existence a testament to the enduring resilience of life in the wild.
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