Hedgehog spines are keratin hairs, not detachable quills
Seventeen Erinaceinae species across five genera patrol Europe, Asia, and Africa—none native to Australia or living Americas—little changed for some fifteen million years. Hollow keratin spines do not barb or freely detach like porcupine quills; when danger comes, two back muscles curl the animal into a spiked ball.
The English name rose around 1450 from Middle English for hedge-hog, nodding to hedgerows and a piglike snout; urchin and hedgepig linger as aliases. Brown coats with pale spine tips are usual; leucistic blondes occur on Alderney. Quilling sheds juvenile spines for adult ones, and stress or illness can drop more. Desert species with fewer spines may ram and flee before rolling. Mostly nocturnal, they den under brush or in dug burrows and can hibernate, dropping body temperature from about 30–35 °C to 2–5 °C.
Anointing follows new scents: lick, froth, then paste foam onto spines—perhaps camouflage or a toxic surprise for poked predators. Muscle erinacin and nicotinic-receptor mutations shared with pigs, honey badgers, and mongooses blunt some snake neurotoxins, though viper bites can still kill. Omnivores, they take insects, frogs, eggs, carrion, berries, and even outdoor cat food. Gestation lasts 35–58 days; litters average three to four in large species, five to six in small. Captive lives often reach eight to ten years; wild spans are shorter.
Owls, ferrets, foxes, and British badgers prey on them; badger-rich farmland means fewer hedgehogs. Common pets are African pygmy hybrids, illegal as of 2019 in Hawaii, Georgia, Pennsylvania, California, New York City, and Washington, D.C. Introduced to New Zealand and Scottish islands, they become pests that hammer insects, lizards, and shorebirds. Clinics urge dark, quiet boxes—handling stress can kill. Distant shrew ancestry and gymnure links place them among eulipotyphlans, not rodents, despite the porcupine look-alike armour.
Source: Hedgehog
