Why everyone’s talking about... Hedgehogs
HE’S a breakout star of 2020. No, not fitness guru Joe Wicks or ‘Tiger King’ Joe Exotic… but the adorable hedgehog from the John Lewis Christmas advert.
And that’s just the latest example of hedgehogs in modern culture, from Beatrix Potter’s Mrs Tiggy-Winkle (whose nose went ‘sniffle, sniffle, snuffle’) and Sega’s Sonic, originally called Mr Needlemouse. In the 13th Century, St Anthony of Padua thought the hedgehog’s five teeth represented the five excuses of wicked men. One problem: hedgehogs have 36 teeth.
What else do we know about hedgehog biology and behaviour?
Most people know they roll into a tight ball in self-defence. They also perform an ‘anointing’ ritual: when they encounter a new scent, they lick the source and then their spines to transfer the smell. No one knows why. Currently, they’re hibernating because the grubs they eat are in short supply. In hibernation, their body temperature drops from 32C (90F) to 2C (36F) and their 190 heartbeats a minute are cut to 20. They can suffer a rare condition called balloon syndrome, in which gas gets trapped under their skin after an infection, causing them to inflate ‘like a beach ball’.
Are they endangered?
This year they officially became ‘vulnerable’. In the 1950s, the UK had about 30 million hedgehogs but now it’s fewer than a million. To help, homeowners can cut 1ft holes in their fences to let the beasties forage wider areas. Badgers are hedgehogs’ main natural predator – but cars are more lethal, killing up to 335,000 a year. Tunnels under roads help to reduce this.
And people want to save them?
Absolutely! Their l ovabili t y is reflected in a plethora of hedgehogthemed gifts and Instagram accounts, such as Darcy The Flying Hedgehog (she’s REALLY cute). Hedgehog fans include Prince Charles, who adopted three hoglets at Dumfries House in Ayrshire, and Rory Stewart, who, as Environment Minister in 2015, gave a 13-minute speech on hedgehogs – the first time they’d been discussed in Parliament since 1556. In Bedouin and Romani cultures, hedgehogs are loved for their meat, which is considered medicinal. However, they can carry salmonella, rabies and herpes – so maybe stick to turkey this Christmas.