50 Fun Facts About Hedgehog

A hedgehog's spines are hollow hairs stiffened with which protein?

The same protein forms human hair and fingernails. Unlike porcupine quills, hedgehog spines are not barbed and do not detach easily.

Roughly how many species of hedgehog exist in the wild?

They are spread across five genera in Europe, Asia and Africa. New species are still occasionally described from Asia.

Which continent has no native hedgehogs at all?

There are also no living species native to the Americas. Wherever they were introduced abroad, they tended to become pests.

What does a hedgehog do when it feels threatened?

The furry face, feet and belly are tucked inside so only spines face outward. Powerful muscles along the back raise the spines.

What is a baby hedgehog called?

Newborns are blind and their quills are covered by a protective membrane. Some keepers also call them piglets.

When a hedgehog meets a strong new smell it chews the source and spreads what over its spines?

The behaviour is called self-anointing and starts as young as 15 days old. Nobody is sure why; scent camouflage and toxin defence are the leading theories.

During hibernation a hedgehog's body temperature drops from around 30-35 °C to roughly what?

That is barely above freezing. Most European hedgehogs still wake at least once during winter to move nests.

Hedgehogs share distant ancestry with which small mammals?

Both belong to the order Eulipotyphla, which also includes moles. Porcupines are rodents and only look similar.

How do gymnures, the hedgehog's closest relatives, differ from hedgehogs?

Both groups belong to the family Erinaceidae. The moonrat is also known for a powerful smell from its anal scent glands.

Which old English word for hedgehog survives today as the name of a spiny sea creature?

Sea urchins were once called sea hedgehogs. Hedgepig is another old name for the animal.

How long is the gestation period of the African pygmy hedgehog?

Larger species can take up to 58 days. Litters of the smaller species tend to be bigger, five to six young.

How are a newborn hedgehog's quills arranged at birth so that the mother is not injured?

The quills emerge within hours as the skin dries and shrinks. The first soft set is later shed and replaced in a process called quilling.

A protein called erinacin gives hedgehogs some natural immunity to what?

Hedgehogs also share a mutated nicotinic acetylcholine receptor with pigs, honey badgers and mongooses. That is why a hedgehog will happily eat an adder.

In which US state is it illegal to keep a hedgehog as a pet?

Georgia, Hawaii, Pennsylvania, New York City and Washington, D.C. also ban them. France and Italy forbid keeping wild hedgehogs.

The African pygmy hedgehog, the usual pet species, is also known by what name describing its hind feet?

It lacks the hallux, or big toe, on each hind foot. Pet hedgehogs became popular in the United States in the early 1980s.

To which country did colonists carry hedgehogs from Britain in the 1860s-90s, where they are now pests?

By the 1920s they were so numerous that game-bird hunters blamed them for smaller bags. Today they eat native insects, snails, lizards and ground-nesting birds' eggs.

Which animal is the main predator of hedgehogs in Britain?

Its long claws can prise open a rolled-up hedgehog. Hedgehogs tend to avoid areas where the two species overlap.

Which fast-food dessert's UK lid was redesigned in 2006 after hedgehogs got their heads stuck?

The opening was made smaller after a public outcry. Hedgehogs were drawn in by the leftover ice cream and could not back out past their spines.

Because hedgehogs are lactose intolerant, the RSPCA says you should never leave out which drink for them?

Bread is also discouraged. Meaty cat or dog food and a shallow dish of water are the recommended garden offering.

A 'Hedgehog Highway' is a square hole cut in a garden fence. How big should it be?

That is about the size of a CD case, big enough for a hedgehog but too small for most pets. Hedgehogs can roam a mile or more a night looking for food and mates.

The British Hedgehog Preservation Society set up Hedgehog Street in 2011 with which other charity?

By January 2025 more than 130,000 volunteers had signed up as Hedgehog Champions. The campaign's Hampton Court show garden won a gold medal in 2014.

What job does Beatrix Potter's hedgehog Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle do?

The 1905 tale was inspired by Potter's own pet hedgehog and a Scottish laundress named Kitty MacDonald. Sir Frederick Ashton danced the role in a 1971 Royal Ballet film.

The Tale of Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle is set in which part of England?

The Newlands Valley near Keswick supplied the backgrounds for the illustrations. The little girl in the story was based on Lucie Carr, a child friend of Potter's.

Sonic the Hedgehog made his first playable appearance on the Sega Genesis in which year?

The game launched in North America in June and in Japan the following month. Sega wanted a faster mascot to take on Mario.

Sonic the Hedgehog's signature colour was chosen to match what?

Naoto Ohshima drew the character from a prototype by Yuji Naka. His first level, Green Hill Zone, is now one of gaming's most recognisable settings.

Who voiced Sonic in the 2020 live-action Sonic the Hedgehog film and its sequels?

Jim Carrey played the villain Dr. Robotnik. Fan backlash over Sonic's original design forced a costly redesign before release.

The 'hedgehog' gene, whose mutants sprout spiky bristles, was first discovered in which organism?

Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard and Eric Wieschaus found it while screening for genes that pattern the fly body; they shared the 1995 Nobel Prize for the work.

Besides Sonic, mammals' other two hedgehog genes are named after which kinds of hedgehog?

Sonic hedgehog was named by postdoc Robert Riddle after his wife brought home a magazine advertising the video game. It helps pattern the limbs and digits.

Loss of Sonic hedgehog protein in an embryo can cause which condition, where the forebrain fails to divide?

In its most severe form it produces a single central eye. The gene is secreted by the zone of polarizing activity in the developing limb bud.

Which philosopher devised the 'hedgehog's dilemma' of hedgehogs huddling for warmth?

It appears in his 1851 Parerga and Paralipomena. Freud cited it in a 1921 footnote, and Neon Genesis Evangelion named an episode after it.

Isaiah Berlin's 1953 essay contrasts the hedgehog, which knows one big thing, with which animal that knows many?

The line comes from a fragment by the Greek poet Archilochus. Berlin used it to examine Tolstoy's view of history in War and Peace.

Which 2001 business book by Jim Collins popularised the 'Hedgehog Concept'?

Collins borrowed the idea from Berlin's essay: great companies focus on one thing they can be best at rather than chasing many.

In the Queen of Hearts' croquet game, hedgehogs are the balls. What are the mallets?

Soldiers bend over to form the hoops. Alice finds the game maddening because the hedgehogs keep unrolling and wandering off.

The Royal Navy's Second World War weapon nicknamed the 'Hedgehog' was what kind of device?

Its empty rows of launcher spigots looked like spines. It sank U-boats at a rate of one per 5.7 attacks, far better than depth charges.

A 'Czech hedgehog', seen on Normandy beaches and in Ukraine, is what?

They were first used on Czechoslovakia's border fortifications before the war. In Normandy the Allies cut them up and welded the pieces to Sherman tanks as hedgerow cutters.

The edible hedgehog mushroom (Hydnum repandum) gets its name from what beneath its cap instead of gills?

Also called sweet tooth or wood hedgehog, it has no poisonous lookalikes and a nutty, crunchy taste. It also soaks up radioactive caesium, a concern after Chernobyl.

In Yuri Norstein's animated short Hedgehog in the Fog, whom is the hedgehog walking to visit for tea?

On the way he wanders into thick fog and sees a mysterious white horse. The whole film runs a little over ten minutes.

Hedgehog in the Fog, voted the best animated film ever by animators in 2003, was made in 1975 in which country?

It was produced by the Soyuzmultfilm studio in Moscow. The poll took place at the Laputa Animation Festival in Tokyo.

What is narrator Renée Michel's job in The Elegance of the Hedgehog?

The 2006 novel spent 102 weeks on French bestseller lists. It became the 2009 film Le Hérisson starring Josiane Balasko.

In Monty Python's 'Piranha Brothers' sketch, what is the giant imaginary hedgehog that terrifies Dinsdale called?

The creature's size changes with Dinsdale's mood. At the end of the sketch it turns out to be real, looming over London landmarks bellowing 'Dinsdale!'

Which Roman writer claimed hedgehogs spear fallen apples on their spines for winter?

Isidore of Seville later said they did the same with grapes, and medieval bestiaries repeated the myth for centuries. Real hedgehogs do no such thing.

Rather than curling up, the long-eared hedgehog of Central Asia usually responds to a predator how?

It is much faster than the European hedgehog and can survive on the moisture in its food when water is scarce. Its ears stick out well beyond the nearest spines.

The desert hedgehog, one of the smallest species, is found in which region?

It is usually identified by its dark muzzle. Its spines bend rather than break, absorbing the shock of a fall.

Madagascar's spiny tenrecs mimic hedgehogs but are unrelated. What is this an example of?

Two tenrec species grew hardened spines and learned to curl up independently. Tenrecs are closer to elephants and aardvarks than to hedgehogs.

In Irish folk tradition, a hedgehog leaving its hole on which day was a good-weather omen?

That is 1 February, the first day of spring in the Irish farming year. Folklorists note that the groundhog, badger and hedgehog all play the same role in different countries.

Among Bedouins in the Middle East, hedgehog meat is traditionally eaten as a medicine for what?

Hedgehogs were also eaten in ancient Egypt, and some late-medieval European recipes call for hedgehog meat.

According to the RSPCA, roughly how many spines does an adult hedgehog carry?

The spines hide legs up to 10 cm long, which is why a running hedgehog surprises people. Its 2018 UK population estimate was about 879,000.

British hedgehogs typically hibernate from about November until which month?

They must build fat reserves through summer and autumn to survive it, which is why supplementary feeding matters. The species is listed as vulnerable on the Red List for British Mammals.

On which Scottish islands did a controversial hedgehog cull begin in 2003 to protect ground-nesting birds?

690 hedgehogs were killed in the first year. From 2008 the programme switched to trapping them and releasing them on the mainland.

In 1981 which UK body ordered a publican to rename his 'Hedgehog Flavoured' snack?

The Office of Fair Trading objected because the snacks contained no actual hedgehog.