[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]Hedgehogs are most easily recognised by their spines of which an adult has around 7000 on average. The spines are modified hollow hair and they provide protection for the hedgehog. Their underside is covered with course hair. The spines normally lay flat along the hedgehog’s body and the top of its head but when threatened an impressive set of muscles raises the spines in all directions. This along with a muscle system around the tummy area which allows the hedgehog to ball and then draw these muscles tight (a bit like the drawstring on a pump bag) gives the hedgehog a great defence against would be threats. This defensive strategy doesn't always provide the best solution though; as the many squashed on our roads by cars attest. Hedgehogs can be agressive and they will barge into another hedgehogs side with their head mainly over hedgehogs of the opposite sex during the mating season and sometimes over food especially when brought together at food left out in gardens.
The spines also serve another useful purpose they enable a hedgehog to bounce! Hedgehogs don't really have a fear of falling and they will quite happily walk off the edge of something, as they fall they curl and the muscles at the base of the spines act as a kind of shock absorber saving the hedgehog from injury. After a short pause the hedgehog will unball, twist and flip over and wander off as if nothing had happened. Hedgehogs incidentally are quite good climbers and swimmers as well.
Wed May 15, 2013 12:22 pm
