106 hedgehog facts, all checked

Species & family

1. 1 Wikipedia's hedgehog article says there are 17 species in five genera, though its own genus list names 18. source
2. 2 Hedgehog Street, run by PTES and the BHPS, counts 19 species in five genera. source
3. 3 The genus Mesechinus now holds five East Asian species, among them forest hedgehogs from China that were only recently recognised. source
4. 4 The eastern forest hedgehog of China is one of the newest, listed among mammal species described in the 2020s; the small-toothed forest hedgehog was long treated as a subspecies. source
5. 5 The hedgehogs' family, Erinaceidae, also includes the gymnures or moonrats of South-east Asia. source
6. 6 Porcupines (rodents) and echidnas (monotremes) look similarly spiny but are not related. source
7. 7 Hedgehogs are native to parts of Europe, Asia and Africa, and live in New Zealand by introduction. None are native to Australia or the Americas. source
8. 8 Hedgehogs have changed little over the last 15 million years. source
9. 9 Their distant relatives are shrews, not porcupines. The spiny look is a coincidence of evolution: porcupines are rodents. source

The name

1. 10 The word "hedgehog" came into use around 1450, from Middle English heyghoge: hedge (where it lives) plus hog (for the piglike snout). source
2. 11 Older English names include urchin and hedgepig. source

Anatomy & spines

1. 12 A European hedgehog carries roughly 5,000–7,000 spines, each about 2–3 cm long. source
2. 13 Spines are hollow hairs stiffened with keratin, the same protein as your fingernails. They are not poisonous or barbed and, unlike porcupine quills, do not easily detach. source
3. 14 Two large muscles in the back control the position of the quills, and a draw-string muscle lets the hedgehog curl into a ball. source
4. 15 A ring of muscle works like a draw-string to pull the spiny skin around the body. source
5. 16 European hedgehogs measure about 160 mm (head and body) at weaning, rising to 260 mm or more in large adults. The tail is just 20–30 mm. source
6. 17 Adults usually weigh over 1,100 g; the record is 2,000 g, though few wild ones top 1,600 g even in autumn. source
7. 18 Under the skirt of spines are surprisingly long legs (about 10 cm) and five clawed toes on each foot. source
8. 19 Eyesight is poor; hedgehogs find food mainly by smell and hearing. source
9. 20 Pale "blonde" (leucistic) hedgehogs are rare, except on Alderney and North Ronaldsay; on Alderney about a quarter of the population is thought to be blonde. source
10. 21 Young hedgehogs shed their baby spines for adult ones, a process called quilling. source
11. 22 Hedgehogs have some resistance to snake venom thanks to a protein called erinacin, but not much: a viper bite can still kill one. source
12. 23 Hedgehog Street's myth-buster: hedgehogs are not immune to snake bites. They have only partial resistance to venom, and a bite to the face or leg could still kill one, but Britain's only venomous snake, the adder, can't bite through the spines. source

Diet

1. 24 Wild hedgehogs mostly eat invertebrates: beetles, caterpillars, earthworms, earwigs, millipedes and slugs. source
2. 25 Hedgehogs have been seen eating cat food left out for pets. source
3. 26 BHPS advice: offer good-quality meaty hedgehog food, meaty cat or dog food, or dry cat biscuits — and water. source
4. 27 Never give milk. Hedgehogs are lactose intolerant and milk can make them very ill. source
5. 28 Bread and milk is a folk remedy, not a menu: milk makes hedgehogs ill (they are lactose intolerant), and bread is low in energy and fairly worthless to them. source
6. 29 The Scottish SPCA advises against mealworms, sunflower seeds and peanuts, which can cause bone deficiencies and dental problems. source

Hibernation

1. 30 Hedgehogs usually hibernate from around October/November to March/April, depending on the weather. source
2. 31 In hibernation body temperature drops from a normal 30–35 °C to just 2–5 °C. source
3. 32 Hibernation is not one long sleep: hedgehogs wake and often move nest at least once over winter. source
4. 33 European hedgehogs build three kinds of nest: breeding nests, summer day nests and winter nests (hibernacula). source
5. 34 Starvation, often during hibernation, is the most common cause of death. source

Breeding & hoglets

1. 35 The breeding season runs roughly April to September, peaking in May and June; most hoglets are born in June and July. source
2. 36 Gestation in the European hedgehog is 31–35 days. source
3. 37 Across all hedgehog species, gestation runs 35–58 days. source
4. 38 A European litter is typically four to six (range two to ten), raised by the mother alone. source
5. 39 Average litters are four or five (up to seven), but usually only two or three are weaned successfully. source
6. 40 Newborn hoglets are blind, their spines tucked under a protective membrane that dries and falls away within hours. source
7. 41 By 11 days old a hoglet can roll into a ball; weaning comes at about six weeks. source
8. 42 Hoglets from a late second litter often can't put on enough weight before hibernation. These are the "autumn orphans", still foraging well into winter, sometimes by day and often underweight. source
9. 43 A wild European hedgehog can live more than ten years, but average life expectancy is about three. source
10. 44 A mother hedgehog may desert, or even eat, her hoglets if she is disturbed. source

Behaviour

1. 45 Hedgehogs roam an average of about 2 km a night; breeding males can cover up to 3 km. Home ranges average 10–20 hectares. source
2. 46 Self-anointing: a hedgehog chews a strong-smelling substance, froths, and spreads the foamy saliva over its spines. Nobody is quite sure why. source
3. 47 Self-anointing has been seen in hoglets as young as 15 days old, before their eyes open. source
4. 48 In one study, signs of self-anointing turned up in over 11% of observations, more often in first-year young and in males. source
5. 49 Hedgehogs sometimes bite into toads' poison glands and smear the mixture on their spines. source
6. 50 Hedgehogs are good swimmers but can drown if they cannot climb out of a steep-sided pond. source
7. 51 Hedgehog droppings are about 1.5–5 cm long; footprints show five toes, though often only four register. source

Decline & conservation

1. 52 On the 2020 Red List for Britain's Mammals the hedgehog is Vulnerable in Great Britain, England, Scotland and Wales. source
2. 53 In October 2024 the IUCN moved the European hedgehog from Least Concern to Near Threatened globally. source
3. 54 The IUCN estimated national declines of 16–33% over ten years, and local declines of up to 50% in Bavaria and Flanders. source
4. 55 Hedgehogs are protected in the UK under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 and are a priority species. source
5. 56 Hundreds of thousands of hedgehogs are killed on British roads every year (Mammal Society). source
6. 57 Hedgehogs have lived in mainland Britain since the last Ice Age. source
7. 58 State of Britain's Hedgehogs 2022: rural hedgehogs have declined by between 30% and 75% since 2000; urban populations appear to be stabilising. source
8. 59 A 2018 estimate put the population of England, Scotland and Wales at about 879,000 hedgehogs. source
9. 60 An earlier 1995 estimate was 1.55 million in Great Britain — itself very uncertain. source
10. 61 PTES and BHPS have published State of Britain's Hedgehogs reports in 2011, 2015, 2018 and 2022. source
11. 62 Hedgehog Street is a joint PTES/BHPS campaign recruiting volunteer "Hedgehog Champions" to make gardens hedgehog-friendly. source
12. 63 In October 2026 the BHPS announced that the hedgehog had won a public vote to appear on new Bank of England notes, with 259,655 votes. source
13. 64 From the 1950s to the 1980s the hedgehog was an unofficial symbol of NATO in several countries — peaceful, but bristling in defence. source
14. 65 Settlers introduced European hedgehogs to New Zealand in the late 19th and early 20th centuries; there they are an invasive species. source
15. 66 The IUCN blames increasing human pressures, particularly the degradation of rural habitats by agricultural intensification, roads and urban development. source

Garden help

1. 67 A gap 13 cm × 13 cm (about a CD case) is all a hedgehog needs to pass between gardens. source
2. 68 Slug pellets, pesticides and poisons can kill hedgehogs and damage the food chain they rely on. source
3. 69 Give ponds a gently sloping side or a ramp so a hedgehog that falls in can climb out. source
4. 70 Check areas thoroughly before strimming or mowing: strimmer injuries are among the most worrying calls the BHPS receives. source
5. 71 Bonfires: build on the day, or move the whole pile before lighting it; light from one side; check with a torch and a broom or pole, never a fork. source
6. 72 Hedgehog houses should be untreated wood with an entrance tunnel or internal wall to keep predators out. source
7. 73 A simple feeding station: an upturned storage box with a 13 cm × 13 cm hole, a brick on top, and another brick about 13 cm in front of the entrance so cats can't scoop the food out. source
8. 74 Put food at least a couple of metres from the house and wash dishes daily. source
9. 75 Don't take a healthy hedgehog from the wild to "keep" in your garden — they range up to two miles a night and it is illegal to take them without good reason. source

Found a hedgehog

1. 76 A hedgehog sunbathing or looking "drunk" needs urgent help — the wobbly ones are hypothermic. Exceptions to the daylight rule: nesting or nursing mothers, out briefly and moving purposefully. source
2. 77 BHPS first aid: pick it up with gloves or a towel, put it in a high-sided box with a towel, give a covered hot-water bottle with room to move off it, offer meaty food and water, and call for help. source
3. 78 The BHPS helpline is 01584 890 801. source
4. 79 If the hedgehog is injured or in obvious pain, take it to a vet straight away. source
5. 80 Hedgehog fleas are host-specific and won't settle on you, your cat or your dog. source
6. 81 The BHPS says to act if a hedgehog is lethargic, lying out in the open, has flies around it, is wobbly, injured or trapped. source

Myths & culture

1. 82 Myth: hedgehogs suckle milk from cows. Hedgehog Street calls it "unlikely". source
2. 83 Myth: hedgehogs carry fruit on their spines. Almost certainly untrue. source
3. 84 Beatrix Potter's The Tale of Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle (1905) was inspired partly by her own pet hedgehog, also called Mrs. Tiggy-winkle. source
4. 85 In 1981 a British publican launched Hedgehog Flavoured Crisps. They contained no hedgehog, so the Office of Fair Trading had them renamed Hedgehog Flavour Crisps. source
5. 86 The hedgehog routinely tops "Britain's favourite animal" polls. source
6. 87 In Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) the Queen's croquet uses hedgehogs as balls. source

Isle of Man

1. 88 Manx Wildlife Trust counts fourteen land mammal species with self-sustaining populations on the Island (excluding bats and seals) — very few of them native. source
2. 89 The Isle of Man has neither badgers nor foxes, both predators of hedgehogs in Britain, so Manx Wildlife Trust says the Manx population is interesting to compare with similar UK sites. source
3. 90 MWT runs a citizen-science hedgehog survey using footprint tunnels to find out where Manx hedgehogs live. source
4. 91 Writing in 1885, a Manx Note Book contributor said the hedgehog was "now common all over the Island" but doubted it had been so for long; around fifty years earlier one was "a great curiosity". source
5. 92 Local tradition credited the hedgehogs' arrival to the wreck of the schooner Hooton, of Garlieston, with a box of hedgehogs on board. source
6. 93 Manx names recorded for the hedgehog include graynoge, muc-cleigh (a literal "hedge-pig") and arkan-sonney. source
7. 94 In Manx folklore the hedgehog was one of the "seven sleepers". source
8. 95 The hedgehog is listed in Schedule 6 of the Isle of Man Wildlife Act 1990: animals which may not be killed or taken by certain methods. source

Pet (pygmy) hedgehogs

1. 96 "African pygmy hedgehogs" in the pet trade are mostly four-toed hedgehogs (Atelerix albiventris) or hybrids with the North African hedgehog. source
2. 97 The four-toed hedgehog weighs 250–600 g and usually has just four toes on each hind foot. source
3. 98 In the wild it prefers 24–30 °C; colder, and it goes into torpor. source
4. 99 Pet four-toed hedgehogs typically live 4–6 years. source
5. 100 The RSPCA says African pygmy hedgehogs are wild, solitary and nocturnal with complex needs, and do not make suitable pets. source
6. 101 Owners in England and Wales have a legal duty of care under the Animal Welfare Act. source
7. 102 Common health problems include obesity, tumours, heart disease, wobbly hedgehog syndrome, ringworm and salmonella. source
8. 103 Merck Veterinary Manual: keep pet hedgehogs at 22–32 °C (24–29 °C optimal); too cold or too warm and they go torpid, which is unhealthy. source
9. 104 Use a solid-surface exercise wheel, never a wire or rung wheel that can trap feet. source
10. 105 Feed a commercial hedgehog or insectivore diet, rationed, and weigh weekly — obesity is common. source
11. 106 As of 2019 hedgehogs were illegal as pets in Hawaii, Georgia, Pennsylvania and California, New York City and Washington, D.C. source

Species table