The European hedgehog (Erinaceus europaeus), also known as the West European hedgehog or common hedgehog, is a hedgehog species native to Europe. It is a generally common and widely distributed species that can survive across a wide range of habitat types. While populations are currently stable across much of its range, it is declining severely in Great Britain. It has recently been changed to a classification of ‘Near Threatened’ on the IUCN Red list of species, meaning it is considered to be at risk of local extinction. As a result, protecting this iconic species is now more important than ever.
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The preferred habitat of hedgehogs was always hedgerows, and the transitional habitat either side of the hedge, but recently hogs have been doing better in suburban areas where they can move between neighbouring gardens easily and make use of supplementary feed put out by members of the public. Provision of hedgehog houses often encourages hogs to stay in gardens.
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Hogs are solitary, but not territorial as such, so often share resources. Sexually active males tend to use many nests scattered throughout their home ranges, whereas females tend to use fewer nests. Nest sites are vital as hogs spend all day in their nests. There is no safe period to cut undergrowth due to this, so undergrowth should always be checked for animals prior to cutting and ideally cut high. Good nest sites may serve several animals but can result in transfer of parasites Hedgehogs 2 and disease.
Hedgehogs are nocturnal so any found out in daylight are usually injured or ill. Hogs are active all night and spend the time foraging. Their nightly routes can be anything up to 2-3 km. They eat a range of insect prey, the preferred prey being beetles, larvae and caterpillars with only smaller amounts of slugs, snails and woodlice consumed.
They have no defence against badgers so tend not to be found in areas where badgers live. They have no other major predators, though foxes have been known to kill and eat juveniles.
Man is the major threat to hogs with some game keepers still killing hogs because of the occasional loss of eggs from ground nesting gamebirds. Deaths on the road are common and whilst hogs are well suited to garden life, they face many dangers there including strimmers, entanglements, drowning in ponds, ingestion of chemical and disruption of nest sites through human activity and due to domestic pets.
Hedgehogs commonly hibernate from November to March once temperatures drop below 8ºC. It is rare for them to hibernate for this whole period and more commonly hibernation involves a few shorter ‘sleeps’ with intervals in between where they often wake to feed and can change nest sites during mild spells. Hibernation is the single greatest mortality factor for the species and up to 70% of young hedgehogs can die in their first winter. Large hedgehogs with good body fat stores will normally hibernate first. The smaller hogs feed for as long as possible to increase body fat stores.
In springtime (March) hedgehogs emerge, having lost up to one third of their body weight, and begin to disperse, putting them at risk from traumatic injury. Males wake first and range further and are normally the first to be admitted to rescues in the spring.
The breeding season usually starts in May and females can produce 2 litters per year with average litter size of 4 hoglets (range 2-6). Pregnancy lasts about 4 weeks and generally birth of the litter is fairly rapid taking up to a few hours. Average birth weight is about 15g and Introduction 3 hoglets are born initially pink, hairless and with eyes and ears tightly closed. The female stays with the hoglets for at least the first 24 hours before leaving to forage. The first white spines appear within a few hours of birth. After 2-3 days the 2nd generation of brown spines emerge. Fur starts to grow and the brown spines near the white spines in length at about 8-10 days. At this time the hoglet can partially curl into a ball and usually weighs 30-50g. Eyes and ears start to open at about 2 weeks and lower teeth emerge at 3 weeks when they normally weigh about 80g. At 4 weeks the 1st generation white spines are shed and adult spines start to grow. By 6 weeks they are usually fully self feeding and are independent by 8 weeks. Ideally by this time they weigh over 250g.
Recent changes in climate have led to variations in timings of litters, more late litters and subsequent struggling juveniles. Drastic changes in insect populations have also affected food available and meant reliance on more parasite infested prey species like slugs, snails and earthworms instead of the more favoured beetles, caterpillars,