Hedgehog Species

The Hedgehogs form a distinctive family of about a dozen or so species. These include five kinds of hairy hedgehogs or 'moon rats' which live in S.E. Asia and don;t have any spines. The different species of typical spiny hedgehogs look very similar and differ from our British one in relatively minor respects (e.g. in having black and white spines, longer ears or white belly fur). They are classified into four groups or species (called "genera"). Two of these, Atelerix and Paraechinus, include a total of seven species, mostly living in Africa, with two of the Paraechinus species extending into the Middle East and India. The genus Hemiechinus (long-eared hedgehogs) has four species that are widespread across the dry areas of western and central Asia. The remaining genus, Erinaceus, is the one to which the British or brown-chested hedgehog belongs. Our own British hedgehog, scientifically known as Erinaceus europaeus, is the same species that occurs throughout most of the Continent. In eastern Europe and across into Russia, the local hedgehogs typically are bigger than ours and have a white chest. This and some other minor features mean that they are classified as a different species, Erinaceus concolor. A third, closely related, species (Erinaceus amurensis) lives in China.

Throughout Europe, hedgehogs are found in farmland, forest and fragmented suburban habitats. They live up mountains, at least to the tree line, but don't care for wet places like marshes. In very dry areas, especially in some of the Mediterranean countries, another species (from North Africa) is found. In the north, hedgehogs occur up to about 60 degrees N latitude; approximately the limit of deciduous trees across southern Scandinavia and Finland.

'Our' hedgehog was introduced from Britain to New Zealand in the nineteenth century by homesick settlers anxious to make their new country as familiar as the old homeland. Hedgehogs are now doing very nicely there but they have not been introduced successfully to any other distant places. There are no hedgehogs in North or South America, nor in Australia for example. However, they have been released on various islands around the British coast, where the presence has sometimes become rather controversial.

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that was a good and interesting read xx