Hedgehogs

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Hedgehogs - Distribution

Picture source:
Hedgehog Central © 2003
Bryan H. Smith HedgehogCentral.com

Hedgehogs (insectivorous mammals of the family Erinaceidae) are found in many places of the Old World, except SE Asia, where gymnures, or hairy Hedgehogs live. There are no New World Hedgehogs; the American porcupine is sometimes erroneously called a Hedgehog.

European species of Hedgehogs are found in practically all of the European countries, in China, Manchuria, and Korea. African species inhabit mostly Central and Northern Africa. Long-Eared species live in Israel, Pakistan, India, China, and Mongolia. Desert species are found in Southern Africa, Pakistan, India, and Afghanistan.

Spiny Hedgehogs inhabit deserts, forests, and suburbs. The name Hedgehogs describes their tendency to make the burrows in the hedgerows that surround fields in England. Today Hedgehogs are introduced to New Zealand and many islands.

Hedgehogs - Description

Picture source:
Egels-online

There exist 4 genera and 14 species of Hedgehogs: European, Long-Eared, Desert Hedgehogs, and, also Moon Rat. The variations within the Hedgehog family are great and very distinct. The common pet species is the African Pygmy Hedgehog, the descendant of the White-bellied and the Algerian Hedgehogs, both native to Africa.

The domestic Hedgehogs come in a great variety of colors. They can be salt and pepper, gray, chocolate, brown, cinnamon, champagne, apricot, pale apricot, silver, charcoal, platinum, white, and albino.

Hedgehogs - Predators

Hedgehogs have many predators, such as birds of prey, foxes, jackals, and wild dogs. They have to penetrate the spines of the Hedgehog. Besides lots of Hedgehogs are killed on roadways and suffer of various chemicals. Wild populations of Hedgehogs have been depleted in many parts of the world.