Eared hedgehog interesting facts. Myths and interesting facts about hedgehogs. Hedgehogs are relatives of porcupines

Prickly neighbor

With every minute the disk of the red sunset sun sank lower and lower. Evening dew has already appeared on the young green grass. We lay low on the ground, testing each other's patience. It was getting cool, dusk was approaching, time was running out. However, the hedgehog, curled up into an impregnable spiky ball a couple of meters from me, also had something to hurry: it was the turn of the evening hunt.

Wow, wow! - the hedgehog grunted dissatisfied, realizing that I was not going anywhere.

Ffk! - I snorted quietly out of curiosity.

The hedgehog didn’t answer, but he wasn’t afraid either. Finally, eyes appeared - very tiny black buttons, unimportant helpers in the search for food. A sensitive sense of smell and hearing is what the nocturnal animal primarily relies on. The click of the camera shutter - and the hedgehog immediately curled up into a ball.

...I accidentally came across a hedgehog in a ravine near a stream. It was completely dark there, and I had to take the prickly ball out onto the lawn to take a photo in the rays of the setting sun. True, the hedgehog did not want to participate in the photo shoot at all. Only a few minutes later he turned around again. This time I did not immediately “fire all guns”, but waited until the hedgehog calmed down a little. The tactics helped: I managed to take several shots. Having finished filming, I took the hedgehog back to the ditch. After all, it must be his home there.

In general, hedgehogs do not like to go out to feed before dusk, but in April-May they are forced to begin hunting partially and during daylight hours in order to gain strength after hibernation. Among other mammals, the hedgehog can “boast” of the ability to endure hibernation in deep stupor, when the body temperature drops from 33.7 to 1.8 ° C, the pulse rate decreases from 180 to 20-60 beats per minute and only one breath is taken per minute! In this energy-saving mode, the animal can live up to 240 days, while in a state of wakefulness and ten days of hunger strike can lead to death. Stored fat is consumed during sleep, and it is also used to warm up the body upon awakening. After a long winter hibernation, the hedgehog loses a fifth of its own weight.

Hedgehogs are tireless nocturnal hunters and gatherers. They eat all kinds of beetles, their larvae, slugs, worms and other invertebrates. More nimble animals are hunted less often: on occasion, mice, half-asleep reptiles and amphibians are caught. They will not disdain eggs or chicks if they come across a bird's nest on the ground. Reliable protection - needles - partly determines the fearless nature of hedgehogs. This may be why they easily tolerate being close to humans and are found near housing more often than in completely wild places. But the main factor is, of course, the availability of food.

As soon as the animals are strong enough after hibernation, they begin the breeding season, the timing of which is difficult to determine, since small hedgehogs can be found throughout the warm period of the year. During mating games, males drive away rivals. Seven weeks after mating, the female makes a well-camouflaged nest, and in it three to seven blind, helpless naked hedgehogs with soft rudiments of needles are born, which begin to appear only a few hours after birth. The needles inside are hollow and filled with air, so wearing such a “body armor” is not difficult. Each needle has a special muscle that can raise and lower it.

A newborn baby weighs only 12-14 grams and is comparable in size to a box of matches. Hedgehogs develop quickly on mother's milk. And after two months they become completely independent. The lifespan of these animals is about six years.

Hedgehogs are often taken into the house without thinking about how much trouble this nocturnal animal can cause. His habit of unceremoniously stomping around in the dark is unlikely to please his household. If you feed a hedgehog during the day, then gradually the animal will partially rearrange its daily routine. But this will not save things left on the floor - the hedgehog will build his lair from them. Keeping these animals in captivity is the prerogative of special nurseries. Inexperienced nature lovers should be content with observing hedgehogs in their natural habitat.

This summer I had another encounter with a hedgehog. He began to regularly visit the porch of our rural house, where we leave food for the wild cat. He usually appeared in the thick twilight, when the courtyard became quiet. I drank milk, ate buckwheat porridge, and gave particular preference to chicken bones. But I didn’t seem to notice the sour Antonov apples. In the bright light he continued to eat calmly. But as soon as the animal heard some suspicious noise, it immediately became wary and, if the noise did not stop, went into the raspberry thickets, where it hid under an old box.

One day I managed to find a hedgehog lying during the day in an oak planting. The beast made a lair for itself from a pile of last year's leaves in an undergrowth of thorns. And his enemies - dogs, foxes, ferrets, badgers, large owls - were not afraid of him.

In general, this year turned out to be somewhat of a hedgehog; apparently, there was plenty of food in the forest. I don’t want to eat some May Khrushchev! This means that in the future there will be someone to restore order among the slugs, beetles and other plant pests that roam at night.

The ancestors of hedgehogs, gymnurs, did not have a needle-like shell and were more like rats than modern hedgehogs. They descended from tenrecs, which in the Paleocene (about 60 million years ago) inhabited a significant part of the land, and are now found only in Madagascar. The first hedgehogs differed from tenrecs in the structure of their jaws: their teeth had not one, but two peaks (in the shape of the letter W).

This gave hedgehogs an evolutionary advantage: they were able to eat roughage and insects. Gradually, the gymnurs replaced the tenpeks and spread across all continents.

However, with the advent spiny hedgehogs The Gymnur's range has declined sharply and is today limited to small areas in Southeast Asia. Zoologists do not know exactly when the gymnur acquired a spiky shell. Maybe this happened because sudden warming climate and the hair on the back gradually turned into thorns.

The long-eared hedgehog in Russia is found in the Volga steppes and lower reaches of the Don, Ciscaucasia, Northern Caspian region, steppes of the south of Western Siberia and Tuva; listed in the Red Books of Bashkortostan, the Urals, Saratov and Chelyabinsk regions.

BENEFITS AND HARMS OF NEEDLES

The long-eared hedgehog is the smallest representative of the hedgehog family, but, as the name implies, it is the most lop-eared. Its large ears (so large that, if they are bent forward, they cover its eyes) play an important role - they protect the animal from overheating.

There is no “longitudinal parting” on the head of the long-eared hedgehog, like other types of hedgehogs. Under the skin, which is covered with a spiny shell, there are circular and longitudinal muscles, with the help of which the hedgehog curls into a prickly ball, but long-eared hedgehogs are reluctant to do this (probably they are afraid of accidentally piercing their large and beautiful ears), and in case of danger they run away, hissing and jumping .

Eared hedgehogs have excellent sense of smell and hearing, but poor eyesight. Although it is believed that they can distinguish colors like humans, unlike other mammals whose vision is black and white. The hedgehog has 36 teeth, which fall out as they age.

The respiratory rate of an animal when awake is 40-50 breaths per minute, and when hibernating - 6-8. The temperature in active life is 34°C, and during hibernation it is only 2°C to save vitality.

HEDGEHOG IN THE RESERVE

Small, big-eared, cute, with high legs, the hedgehog is always in a hurry to get somewhere. However, this recluse from the order of insectivores is not often seen in the reserve.

The hedgehog escapes from the heat by leading a nocturnal lifestyle, but one can only be surprised at its unique ability to go without food and water for a long time. The long-eared hedgehog avoids places with sparse and quickly burning vegetation; its main habitats in the reserve are the forest plantations of the “Green Garden”, gardens in the Surikov ravine, and the thickets of Cordon. All hedgehogs are nocturnal animals; they can travel up to 10 km per night in search of food (during the day they sleep in a hole, curled up in a ball). Hedgehogs communicate with each other by whistling, and snort and grumble only when they are angry.

PINKY LOVE

Eared hedgehogs lead a solitary lifestyle, and only when the sun warms up in late March - early April do excited males begin to look for females. In females, sexual maturity occurs at approximately one year of age, in males usually at two years. Only males go in search of a mate; for this they can walk 6-8 km, but the hedgehog does not need to go on a dangerous journey - she will be found anyway. However, if the female does not like the suitor, then games begin between the males, the so-called hedgehog round dance: rivals bite each other, prick each other with needles, push each other, loudly snorting and sniffling. The games continue until the most persistent participant is identified. The spines do not interfere with mating: the female lies on the ground, stretching out her hind legs, and the male sits behind him, standing almost vertically.

HEDGEHOG

After mating, the female immediately drives the male away, now each of them will go about their own business: the male will actively fatten up for the winter, and the female will prepare the brood hole, lining it with dry leaves.

In 40-45 days, the hedgehog will have 2-8 light-colored blind and deaf babies, very tiny - newborns weigh about 20 grams. During the first days, the mother hedgehog warms the cubs with her warmth, since they are completely naked. Within a few hours after birth, hedgehogs acquire white soft needles, and after two days they begin to form dark dense needles. Babies develop very quickly: after about a week their eyes and ear canals open, and after two weeks they are already completely covered with their protective shell. After a month, the cubs leave the hole with their mother, exploring new sounds and smells. Hedgehogs begin to eat insects from the second month of life, after which the mother hedgehog stops feeding her offspring with milk. Soon the kids will have to begin the harsh adult life and look for shelter for their first winter. By this time they should have stored enough nutrients to last from October to April.

INDEPENDENT HEDGEHOG

Hedgehogs either dig holes themselves, or, due to their small size, use others, such as rodents, slightly expanding them for themselves.

Hedgehog shelters differ from the homes of other animals in their wide and low entrance, where, after a steep descent, there is a side wall of the nesting chamber. In the winter, the hedgehog insulates its shelter with leaves and grass, since it cannot stand the cold, and during hibernation it tries to go to bed early, and first tightly closes the entrance to the hole. During hibernation, he eats nothing, practically does not move and falls into suspended animation: his body temperature drops sharply, breathing slows down. The long-eared hedgehog never stores food in its winter home, so the common opinion about hedgehogs being thrifty is nothing more than fairy tales. Probably, when a hedgehog wakes up thin in the spring, staggering from hunger, he regrets that he does not stock up.

FOOD OF THE EARED HEDGEHOG

The main delicacy of eared hedgehogs is small vertebrates, beetles, ants, caterpillars, spiders and bird eggs. A hedgehog can overpower a viper because it has unique resistance to various toxins. Plant foods appear extremely rarely in the diet.

Sand slugger

This beetle from the darkling beetle family lives 2-3 years, overwintering in fields among plant debris and in the top layer of soil. The beetle larvae feed on rotting plant debris and, even in large numbers, cause almost no harm to living plants. But young beetles, appearing in spring or early summer, are very dangerous for seedlings of grain and vegetable crops. Sometimes for 1 sq. meter, from several dozen to hundreds of beetles gather.

June Khrushchev

Another name for the beetle is nekhrushch. It appears in June - early July. During the day, beetles hide on the ground, and in the evening they fly around trees, sit down, eat their leaves and young shoots, or go to feast on the color of cereals. The larvae spend time 10-12 centimeters deep in loamy or sandy soil. They eat the roots of various plants, especially cereals, and sometimes each other.

Reaper Ant

Of the 110 species of this genus of ants, 5 live in Russia. They live in areas with an arid climate, build nests in the soil up to several meters deep and feed on grain. The ants store it in special chambers and, if necessary, take it out to dry. In a family of 5,000 individuals, soldier ants with large heads have a special duty - they play the role of cooks: they grind the grain with their mandibles, turning it into a dough-like mass, which the disgraced ones eat. Working ants have a sting (modified ovipositor) at the end of their abdomen - a weapon of defense and attack.

ENEMIES OF THE EARED HEDGEHOG

Common fox

A large predator from the canine family. It feeds mainly on mouse-like rodents, less often on hares, birds, insects, and carrion. The fox rolls the hedgehog into the water, forcing it to straighten out, and then grabs it by the muzzle. If there is no body of water nearby, then he simply douses the animal with urine (hedgehogs always turn away from a foreign smell).

Badger

A predator from the mustelid family. The badger has such a keen sense of smell that he finds mouse nests, worms, insects, and the larvae of cockchafers, which he especially loves, at a depth of up to 10 cm underground. The badger is one of the few animals that hedgehogs cannot resist: strong paws with long claws do not give a chance of salvation.

Sometimes it turns out that people harm wild animals without even knowing it. For example, when the McDonald's chain introduced new ice cream packaging, hardly anyone suspected the danger hedgehogs were exposed to. Spiny sweet tooths found discarded cups and stuck their heads inside to lick off the remnants of the treat. And they fell into a trap - their heads couldn’t get back through! Many recorded deaths and protests from animal rights activists led to McDonald's reducing the diameter of the cup opening in 2000.

It is interesting that hedgehogs become familiar with unfamiliar smells: they begin to frantically lick something until foamy saliva appears, which the animals apply to the needles. When in danger, hedgehogs often defecate in a ball and begin rolling around in their own feces. Hedgehogs can lubricate the needles with toad poison and thus their spines also become poisonous.

BRIEF CHARACTERISTICS OF THE EARED HEDGEHOG

• Class: mammals.
• Order: insectivores.
• Family: hedgehogs.
• Genus: eared hedgehogs.
• Species: long-eared hedgehog.
• Latin name:
• Hemiechinus auritus.
• Size: body - 12-27 cm, tail - 1-5 cm, ears - 3-5 cm.
• Weight: 250-500 g.
• Color: on the back from light straw to dark brown, the hair on the belly is light.
• Life expectancy of an eared hedgehog: 5-8 years.

These animals from the order of insectivores have been inhabiting a variety of spaces in almost all climatic zones for about 15 million years. They do not live only in permafrost areas and swampy areas.

2. In ancient Rome, hedgehog skins were used as combs for combing sheep's wool. It's interesting that the courts Ancient Rome were literally inundated with cases of counterfeiting hedgehog skins - it was such a popular product.

3. Hedgehogs make a wide variety of sounds. They snort, sneeze, grunt, grunt, snore and chatter their teeth.

4. Hedgehogs' vision is poor, but their sense of smell and hearing compensate for this deficiency.

5. Hedgehogs are remarkably tamed and get along well with other pets - dogs and cats. But few people can keep hedgehogs at home because of their loud stomping at night.

6. There are about 17 species of hedgehogs in the world.

7. The most widespread, well-studied and popular is our common, or European hedgehog. However, it is called this inaccurately, since it lives in the vast expanses of Eurasia right up to Pacific Ocean.

8. A hedgehog's pregnancy lasts 7 weeks.

9. Communication of these animals occurs through whistling.

10. On country highways you can often see hedgehogs killed under the wheels. Some believe that these animals throw themselves under the wheels because of the heat. In fact, hedgehogs try to cross highways for a reason. Highways divide animal habitats into small-area fragments. To save hedgehogs, environmentalists propose digging tunnels under highways.

Long-eared hedgehog

11.The closest relative of the common hedgehog is the long-eared hedgehog, which lives in the southern steppes, semi-deserts and deserts. It differs quite a bit from the ordinary one: it has larger ears, it itself is 2-3 times smaller, and its spiny shell does not go down so low to its abdomen.

12. In pictures in children's books, hedgehogs are often depicted as thrifty animals, carrying mushrooms and apples on their thorns. In fact, this is not true. From plant foods, they sometimes eat berries and fruits, but they never wear them on themselves; they are physically unable to curl up in such a way as to do this. The “father” of the myth that animals carry supplies on their backs is the ancient Roman historian Pliny the Elder. Where he got this from is unknown. In winter, they hibernate, but they do not need to store reserves - hedgehogs accumulate nutrients in the form of fat.

13. Ordinary, i.e. European, hedgehogs swim well. But sometimes they die in the water because they cannot get out of a body of water with steep banks.

14.Unlike mongooses, which are completely immune to snake venom, hedgehogs, although they sometimes hunt snakes, are only partially resistant to venom. The protein erinacin protects hedgehogs from snake venom. However, if the snake bites the hedgehog several times, the battle may not end in his favor.

15.For summer period It is extremely important for a hedgehog to gain sufficient fat reserves. If the animal weighs less than 500 grams in October, it may die during hibernation. IN early spring Hedgehogs sometimes wake up earlier than expected. This is very dangerous for the animal, since the subsequent cold snap can kill it.

16. Hedgehogs are our helpers in our dachas and vegetable gardens. They destroy insect pests and rodents. To lure a hedgehog into the garden, leave something edible outside for it in the evening (a piece of chicken, fish, dog or cat food, etc.). The animal will probably like the treat, and it will come to you more than once, simultaneously destroying slugs, caterpillars, chafers, etc.

17. While the hedgehog is hibernating, its body temperature drops to 2 degrees Celsius (in normal conditions it is 34 degrees). The breathing of sleeping hedgehogs is seriously slowed down: a maximum of 8 inhalations and exhalations per minute, although they usually breathe at a frequency of 40-50 times. An awakened hedgehog is the walking embodiment of hunger, so the animal spends several days after waking up exclusively searching for food.

18. Most types of hedgehogs have a tail. True, it is very short - only 3 cm, so it is not visible from under the needles.

19. The average hedgehog has approximately 10 thousand spines. They are updated every three years. Hedgehog needles take a long time to grow, about a year. Fortunately for the hedgehog, their renewal occurs gradually.

20. Eared hedgehogs differ from their counterparts in that they are extremely reluctant to curl up into a ball in case of danger. This type of hedgehog runs very fast, and it is not easy for land predators to catch up with it. If the long-eared hedgehog is overtaken by an enemy, the animal jumps up and tries to prick its opponent in sensitive places.

21. The hedgehog is inquisitive, active and energetic, and in the complex and dangerous world around him he confidently navigates with the help of an acute sense of smell and subtle hearing, which he has more sensitive than even a dog.

22. African hedgehogs they don't know how to swim. If they accidentally fall into the water, they will inevitably drown.

23. Although the owners of pet hedgehogs give them a sufficient amount of food and leave food at night, the pets still try to look for something edible under the sofa, in closets, etc. The hunting instinct and biological rhythms force hedgehogs to wake up at night and go hunting even without being hungry. Due to their peculiar gait and long claws, hedgehogs' walks in the house are accompanied by stomping.

24.If a hedgehog curls up into a ball, it will remain unharmed even if it falls from a height of several meters.

25. Hedgehogs hibernate for 128 days.

26. A fox is not able to cope with a thorny animal on land, but a cunning animal can roll a hedgehog to the water, where it has to straighten its thorns. Then the fox grabs him.

27. Hedgehogs do not hunt mice - this is a myth. They might be happy to feast on the mouse, but they are not able to catch up with it.

28. Fried hedgehog – a traditional dish Gypsy. By the way, hedgehog goulash is mentioned in one of the episodes of Guy Ricci’s film “Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows”, when the main characters visit a gypsy camp.

29. With the help of radio beacons, scientists have found that animals cover a distance of more than a kilometer per night, and the average habitat of one hedgehog can exceed 20 hectares.

30. Hedgehog spines are modified hair. They consist of keratin, the needles inside are hollow and reinforced with transverse partitions. Due to this structure they are very durable.

Daurian hedgehog

31. In the steppes of Transbaikalia and Mongolia, the Daurian hedgehog is found - also a brother of the common hedgehog.

33. It seems that hedgehogs are clumsy, but they are not. They can run very fast - up to three meters per second.

34. In Serbian folk medicine Hedgehog urine is used as a remedy for alcoholism.

35.Large hedgehogs live from 4 to 7 years, and small ones - from 2 to 4 years.

36. Hedgehogs are born completely blind and without needles.

37. To get rid of slugs, gardeners use beer traps - they place plates of beer on the ground and then collect the pests. Hedgehogs are also not averse to indulging in beer - they like the taste foamy drink. Like other sucklers, they can even fall asleep next to the plate or right in it! If the animal drank too much beer, it gets alcohol poisoning with all the accompanying symptoms.

38. The eyes of newborns open only on the 16th day.

39. Constant crossing of hedgehogs between relatives leads to degeneration of the population, as genetic anomalies accumulate. Attempts by hedgehogs to find “brides” on the side lead to them crawling out onto highways. It often ends sadly.

40.Unlike their close relatives - moles, hedgehogs do not like to dig underground passages, and fences are a difficult obstacle for them.

41. A hedgehog has 36 teeth, which, like humans, can fall out in old age.

42.By nature, hedgehogs are slightly blind, but they distinguish colors very well.

43. Hedgehogs are not related to porcupines, despite their similarity in body structure.

44.Hedgehogs have the ability to climb trees.

45.In epidemiology there is the concept of “hourly”. It indicates the number of ticks collected by a hedgehog for an hour of running through the forest. Recording “hourly” helps scientists identify natural foci of tick-borne encephalitis.

46. ​​Often owners country houses, believing that hedgehogs really love milk, they leave bowls with this product on the street as a treat for the prickly animals. And indeed, they drink it, but after that they feel bad. Like most mammals, these animals feed on milk only in infancy.

47. Feeling a strong and pungent odor, the hedgehog begins to cover its own needles with saliva.

48. Even the strongest poisons have almost no effect on hedgehogs: sublimate, arsenic, potassium cyanide, hydrocyanic acid, etc.

49. During the day, hedgehogs sleep more time, because they are considered nocturnal animals.

50. Male hedgehogs never raise their own offspring.

South African hedgehog

photo from the Internet

Sotnikova Valentina Nikolaevna – teacher-speech therapist of the Children's Development Center - kindergarten No. 33 "Rainbow" in the city of Gubkin, Belgorod region.
The material is recommended for parents of older preschoolers.

What can you tell your child about hedgehogs?

The hedgehog is a wild animal that lives in our forests. The hedgehog's muzzle is small, with an elongated nose, all covered with short gray hairs. His beady black eyes seem attentive and intelligent, but the hedgehog sees poorly, but he has an excellent sense of smell! A hedgehog's paws are short with small claws. The hedgehog wears prickly needles on its back. What can he do without needles? After all, they save him from his enemies. The hedgehog will curl up into a prickly ball, bristling with its sharp needles - try it, eat it.
The hedgehog is a predator. It feeds on worms, beetles, catches lizards, poisonous snakes, mice, and frogs.
Near an old stump, a hedgehog makes a hole for itself and covers it with dry fallen leaves. The hedgehog prepares its bedding in its own way. It rolls head over heels on the grass and pricks leaves on its needles. The hedgehog does not store supplies for the winter. When the cold comes, he will climb into his warm cozy house and will sleep soundly until spring. The fluffy snow will cover the hedgehog's hole, no one will find it under the snow and no one will disturb its sleep.
When the warm spring sun warms up, the streams run and the snow melts, the hedgehog comes out of the hole. In the spring, hedgehogs appear in the hedgehog hole; they are born with their eyes and ears closed. At first there are no needles on the hedgehogs, they appear an hour and a half after birth - white, soft. The hedgehog mother loves her children very much, feeds them milk, and, sensing the first signs of danger, drags them to another place. When the babies grow up, their eyes and ears open, and the needles darken and become hard, the hedgehogs come out of the hole. They run after the mother hedgehog, snorting funny and tapping their claws. Hedgehogs and hedgehogs are taught to look for food for hedgehogs, to catch beetles, mollusks, and mice.
During the day, hedgehogs sleep in a hole under an old stump, and at night they go out hunting.
Hedgehogs quickly get used to people, drink milk from a saucer, and catch mice just as well as cats.
Invite your child to answer the following questions:
1. - Describe appearance hedgehog
2. – Name the hedgehog’s family: hedgehog – hedgehog – hedgehog
3. – Where does the hedgehog sleep? - In a hole under a stump.
4. – What do hedgehogs eat? - worms, mice, snakes, frogs, beetles.
5. – How does a hedgehog prepare for winter? – Near the old stump, the hedgehog looks for a hole and covers it with dry leaves. The hedgehog does not make any reserves for the winter. He sleeps all winter until spring.
Learn riddles:
1) Like a Christmas tree
Covered in needles
2) Nose like a pig's
Yes bristle pegs
3) We need sewing needles
Who needs needles to live?
Learn with your child P. Voronko’s poem “The Cunning Hedgehog”
Sly weird hedgehog
I sewed a scratchy jacket:
A hundred pins on my chest
A hundred needles are behind.
A hedgehog walks on the grass in the forest,
Stumbles on pins
Pear, plum - any fruit,
What will he find under the tree?
And with a gift to the rich
Returns to hedgehogs

The cute owner of thorns - the hedgehog - often lives next to humans, but how much do we really know about him? This ancient creature seems to be primitive, but this seeming simpleton has perfect internal organs and rather complex behavior, although he belongs to the antediluvian genus. He is inquisitive, active and energetic, and in the complex and dangerous world around him he confidently navigates with the help of an acute sense of smell and subtle hearing, which he has more sensitive than even a dog. Want to know more about this amazing creature? Then we invite you to read the most interesting facts about hedgehogs.

1. Hedgehogs are the most ancient mammals. For more than 20 million years, these animals from the order of insectivores have inhabited a wide variety of living spaces almost all climate zones. They only avoid permafrost areas and swampy areas.

The most widespread, well-studied and popular is our common, or European hedgehog. However, it is called this inaccurately, since it lives in the vast expanses of Eurasia right up to the Pacific Ocean. The closest relative of the common hedgehog is the long-eared hedgehog, which lives in the southern steppes, semi-deserts and deserts. It differs quite a bit from the ordinary one: it has larger ears, it itself is 2-3 times smaller, and its spiny shell does not go down so low to its abdomen. And in the steppes of Transbaikalia and Mongolia, the Daurian hedgehog is found - also a brother of the common hedgehog.

2. Hedgehogs make a wide variety of sounds. They snort, sneeze, grunt, grunt, snore and chatter their teeth. Hedgehogs' vision is poor, but their sense of smell and hearing more than compensate for this deficiency.

3. Hedgehogs seem to be clumsy, but they are not. They can run very fast - up to three meters per second.

4. Unlike mongooses, which are completely immune to snake venom, hedgehogs, although they sometimes hunt snakes, are only partially resistant to venom. The protein erinacin protects them from snake venom. However, if the snake bites the animal several times, the battle may not end in its favor.

5. A fox is not able to cope with a thorny animal on land, but a cunning animal can roll a hedgehog to the water, where it has to straighten its thorns. Then the fox grabs him.

6. Hedgehogs are our helpers in our dachas and gardens. They destroy insect pests and rodents. To lure a hedgehog into the garden, leave something edible for it outside in the evening (a piece of chicken, fish, dog or cat food, etc.). The animal will probably like the treat, and it will come to you more than once, simultaneously destroying slugs, caterpillars, chafers, etc.

7. In pictures in children's books, hedgehogs are often depicted as thrifty animals, carrying mushrooms and apples on their spines. In fact, this is not true. From plant foods, they sometimes eat berries and fruits, but they never carry them on themselves. In winter, they hibernate, but they do not need to store reserves - hedgehogs accumulate nutrients in the form of fat.

8. During the summer, it is extremely important for a hedgehog to gain a sufficient amount of fat reserves. If the animal weighs less than 500 grams in October, it may die during hibernation. In early spring, animals sometimes wake up earlier than expected. This is very dangerous for the hedgehog, since the subsequent cold snap can kill it.

10. To get rid of slugs, gardeners use beer traps - they place plates of beer on the ground and then collect the pests. Hedgehogs are also not averse to indulging in beer - they like the taste of the foamy drink. Like other sucklers, they can even fall asleep next to the plate or right in it! If an animal drinks too much beer, it gets alcohol poisoning with all the accompanying symptoms.

11. Ordinary (European) hedgehogs swim quite well. But sometimes they die in the water because they cannot get out of a body of water with steep banks. African hedgehogs cannot swim. If they accidentally fall into the water, they will inevitably drown.

12. Many hedgehogs end their days on the roads. On country highways you can often see hedgehogs killed under the wheels. Some believe that the animals throw themselves under the wheels because of the heat. In fact, they strive to cross highways for a reason. Highways divide animal habitats into small-area fragments. Using radio beacons, scientists have found that animals cover a distance of more than a kilometer per night, and the average habitat of one individual can exceed 20 hectares. To save hedgehogs, environmentalists propose digging tunnels under highways. Unlike their close relatives - moles, hedgehogs do not like to dig underground passages, and fences are a difficult obstacle for them. And besides, constant crossing between relatives leads to degeneration of the population, as genetic anomalies accumulate. Attempts by hedgehogs to find “brides” on the side lead to them crawling out onto highways. It ends sadly.

13. Although the owners of pet hedgehogs give them a sufficient amount of food and leave food out at night, the pets still try to look for something edible under the sofa, in cabinets, etc. The hunting instinct and biological rhythms force hedgehogs to wake up at night and go hunting even without being hungry. Due to the peculiar gait and long claws, the animals' walks in the house are accompanied by stomping.

14. Often, owners of country houses, believing that hedgehogs really love milk, leave bowls with this product on the street as a treat for the prickly animals. And indeed, they drink it, but after that they feel bad. Like most mammals, these animals feed on milk only in infancy. Adults do not produce the enzyme necessary to break down milk sugar. Unprocessed lactose enters the colon and becomes an excellent food for pathogenic bacteria. This process is accompanied by the release of gases, bloating and other unpleasant symptoms. So, by giving your hedgehog milk, you are doing him a disservice.

15. Hedgehog spines are modified hair. They consist of keratin, the needles inside are hollow and reinforced with transverse partitions. Due to this structure they are very durable. If a hedgehog curls up into a ball, it will remain unharmed even if it falls from a height of several meters. Each needle is replaced approximately every three years.

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