Near ThreatenedWest European Hedgehog
Erinaceus europaeus
48 countries206 parks
Species group · Mammals
WAnimals has 5 species of hedgehog, in the family Erinaceidae.
Each one has its own full profile. This group does not replace them: it brings them together.
No species documented in this group is genuinely at risk according to the IUCN, with the data available today.
Recorded in 102 countries. The ones with the most species in the group:
Its spines are modified hairs of keratin, as many as 7,000 of them.
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It can curl into a tight ball in defence.
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It can reach 2 kg before hibernating.
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It is the fastest hedgehog: instead of curling into a ball when threatened it runs, and only bristles in defence if cornered.
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Its huge ears work as radiators on the dry steppe, the same principle used by desert hares and fennec foxes.
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It hunts scorpions with a precise technique: it first tears off the sting and then eats them, and it is also partly resistant to the venom of several desert species.
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It can go weeks without food by entering torpor, an ability that lets it ride out the driest spells of the Saharan summer without leaving the burrow.
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On Fuerteventura and Lanzarote it lives alongside the Canary shrew, and there are signs that its introduction has contributed to the decline of invertebrates endemic to the malpaís lava fields.
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Ranges calculated from the profiles that record the figure, not from all 5.
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