Fall 2016 Intern
Growing up I would sometimes pass
afternoons in search of critters in my backyard. I would find all sorts of
creatures indigenous to the Northeast. Garter snakes, worms and tiny red newts
were all exciting finds. Had I grown up in Great Britain, it would have been
very likely that I discovered a different animal, one very popular in British gardens
these days: the hedgehog.
New
research by the University of Hamburg suggests that Great Britain’s
indigenous hedgehogs have changed their lifestyle to adapt to growing urban
development. Hedgehog populations in urban areas are often higher than those of
the surrounding countryside. Researchers tagged 14 hedgehogs with GPS temperature
sensors and monitored them for 10 months. They found that urban hedgehogs travel
far less at night than rural ones do—only 12 acres, compared to 123. Urban
hedgehogs tend to sleep in private gardens during the day, then go out at
around 9 p.m. after people and dogs have gone indoors. The study
also found that urban hedgehogs follow the same hibernation patterns as rural
ones, unaffected by human activity, noise and availability of food sources (read:
trash) over the winter.
However, hedgehogs aren’t fully out
of the woods. Their urban numbers have declined in Britain by one-third since
2000, and rural numbers have halved. Habitat destruction from farming and urban
development is putting the species in further danger. As hedgehogs live in
bushy areas with natural vegetation, urban gardens and parks are crucial to
their survival.
In order to help preserve habitat
for urban hedgehogs, the British Hedgehog Preservation Society has founded the Hedgehog Street initiative. The
campaign encourages citizens to cultivate gardens that hedgehogs can use as a
habitat. It also encourages citizens to cut small, 5-by-5-inch holes in the
bottom of their fences so that hedgehogs can pass through. This helps to
increase the animal’s roaming areas and grant them access to more areas around
the city. (You can see a map tracking hedgehog sightings, as well as the
“hedgehog highway,” here.) As of December
2016, there were over 41,000 registered “Hedgehog Champions” on the site.
Hopefully with the help of these
conservation efforts these spiny animals will thrive and Great Britain’s beloved
animal will be around for years to come.
Did You Know?
When encountering a strange smell,
such as turpentine or tobacco, a hedgehog
will lick it up. (Hedgehogs are very resistant to toxins.) The animal will
then lather the substance over its quills. Scientists don’t know why the
hedgehog does this. Some theories are that doing so disguises their scent from
predators, poisons the tips of their spines or kills parasites that may be on
the animal.
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