Hedgehog

Fascinating facts about the Hedgehog

• Hedgehogs survive winter by dropping body temperature from a normal 30-35 °C (86-95 °F) down to just 2-5 °C (36-41 °F). This dramatic slowdown lets them hibernate for months without eating, showing how a tiny mammal can endure the same cold that would freeze a human's fingertips. It reveals the power of metabolic adaptation in small vertebrates.
• Hedgehogs roll into a tight spiny ball that tucks away their face, feet and belly, turning their back into a living shield. Light-weight desert species may instead charge, ramming intruders with fewer spines before resorting to the ball. This dual strategy demonstrates how evolution balances defense and escape across habitats.
• Roads claimed 133 hedgehogs over just 259.5 km (227 km + 32.5 km) of Irish highway between April 2008 and November 2010, making them one of the most common mammalian road fatalities in Ireland. Peaks in male deaths in May-June and female deaths in August link to breeding and juvenile dispersal. The data underscores how human infrastructure can sharply cut wildlife survival.
• Hedgehogs carry a protein called erinacin in their muscles that neutralises certain snake venoms, and they also share a mutation in the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor that blocks α-neurotoxin binding, an adaptation also found in pigs, honey badgers and mongooses. Despite these defenses, a viper bite can still be lethal because the protective proteins are present only in tiny amounts. This shows convergent evolution of venom resistance across very different mammals.

Sources

Every fact above was checked against these pages, and kept only where one of them states it.

• Wikipedia

At a glance

About the Hedgehog

As the sun sets over the forest floor, a diminutive figure emerges from the underbrush, its prickly coat glistening like a thousand tiny lanterns in the fading light. With a gentle, lolloping gait, the hedgehog makes its way through the leaf litter, its sensitive snout twitching as it snuffles out the hidden treasures of the woodland: juicy insects, ripe fruits, and sweet, earthy roots. In this quiet, nocturnal world, the hedgehog is a charming, unassuming monarch, its unique, spiny armor a testament to its remarkable adaptability and enduring presence in this enchanted realm.

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