Hedgehog

The hedgehog was named for its unique feeding method. These animals use hedges and other bushes to find small animals that make up most of their food - insects, worms, crickets, snails, mice, frogs and snakes. When the hedgehog passes through the fence, it makes a squeak like a pig - hedgehog

Hedgehogs prey on many common garden pests, so some people think that hedgehogs are useful pets. When hunting, their eyesight is weak, so they depend on their hearing and smell.

Hedgehogs have hard and sharp thorns. When attacked, they are caught in a stabbing unattractive ball that blocks most predators. They usually sleep at this position during the day and wake up at night to find food.

Hedgehogs hibernate in cold climates. In the desert, they spend heat and drought in a similar process called summer sleep. They remain vigorous throughout the year in temperate areas

These lonely animals usually only mate. Young people born each year in the range from 1 to 11 years old only spend 4 to 7 weeks with their mother before leaving. In the meantime, women must be protected from other male hedgehogs. If the nest is disturbed, the mother of the hedgehog will know that their young people eat them even though they sometimes only move to the new nest.

The most common species of hedgehogs are hybrids of white belly hedgehogs or four legged hedgehog (Atelerix albiventris) and North African hedgehog (A. algirus). It is smaller than European hedgehog, sometimes called African pygmy hedgehog. Other species raised as pets are Hemiechinus auritus and H. collaris. It is illegal to keep a hedgehog as a pet in some states in the United States (including Hawaii, Georgia, Pennsylvania, California) and some Canadian cities, and breeding permission is required. With the exception of Scandinavia, most European countries do not have such restrictions. In Italy it is illegal to keep wild hedgehogs as pets.

For familiar wildlife, the hedgehog is full of surprises. In the past few months I have discovered many things about them. In general thought, if you find a hedgehog, the first thing to do is to weigh it. Hedgehogs weighing less than 600 grams - usually the late hedgehogs born in June or July - may not survive in the winter and need to be restored before returning to the wild. Unfortunately, when I saw a hedgehog sitting in the garden with my cat Ralf last summer, I did not call it. Instead, I tried to be friends with it. When I saw wild animals, the weight measurement was not the first thing in my head. For example, I did not find a thin elk and thought "Yes, time can shrink", I tend to think. I will live forever in my garden, let me call it Ron or Clive. "