Hello there! Every day some animal gets trendy and nowadays hedgehogs are among the top favorite pet animals across the globe. But how amazing these creatures are? To have deep information about that we are exploring some amazing facts about hedgehogs. 

20 facts about hedgehogs

Below I am going to mention some amazing facts about hedgehogs because some people out there definitely want to learn about this beautiful creature.

1. Do you know that babies of hedgehogs are called: “Hoglets”?
2. They rely upon their senses of smell and hearing because they don’t have excellent eyesight.
3. As they roam in search of insects and worms and because of this they make pig-like sounds. Due to this reason, they got the name: “Hedgehog”.
4. Hedgehog’s spine can range up to 5000 in number. The lifespan of each quill is about 1 year.
5. Our brothers who love gardening call them their “Garden friends”. Because hedgehogs will help get rid of insects, worms, slugs, and snails, etc.
6. Seventeen species of hedgehogs are known to the world.
7. The hedgehog which people like to own the most is “African Pygmy Hedgehog”.
8. Few hedgehogs hibernate, not all can do that. European hedgehogs hibernate and they do it for a whole year.
9. Some states forbid to keep a hedgehog as your pet. It’s illegal in some parts of the world like in some regions of the United States e.g. Pennsylvania.
10. Hedgehogs are resistant to the venom of some snakes. That means they can kill a snake and can bear their venom during a fight. See, some facts about the hedgehogs are very interesting.
11. The practice of keeping hedgehogs as your pet started in 4 B.C (before christ).
12. They also got some roles in many author’s books. Shakespeare has mentioned hedgehogs in his books like Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Tempest.
13. Hedgehogs are not capable of digesting hard parts of the wood structure as they don’t have digestive enzymes that can do that. Unlike rodents, their diet mainly depends upon insects.
14. Hedgehogs, when found in greater numbers, are called “Array of hedgehogs’ ‘.
15. Once McDonald’s took an initiative to save hedgehogs. They changed the packaging of their McFlurry to a hedgehog friendly one.
16. Hedgehogs are quite speedy, they can cover up a distance of six feet in just one second.
17. Their ancestors seem to share a close bond with dinosaurs, it also depicts that they are quite ancient and have evolved much with time.
18. Hedgehogs love to groove as well. They have got quite good dancing moves.
19. Hedgehogs when taking baths look extremely cute.

Amazing facts about hedgehogs

Below are some more interesting facts about hedgehogs which will let you learn more about them.

1. Hedgehogs have extremely interesting habits of searching for their food. They love to make burrows and holes then go through them to locate their favorite food. Their favorite food includes snails, worms, insects, centipedes, millipedes, etc.
2. When they move from one hedge to another they make grunting sounds thus got the name “hedgehog”.
3. Hedgehogs are nocturnal in nature. That means they sleep the whole day in their nest under bushes and shrubs. When the night comes then they go out hunting for their prey.
4. Their spikes may look gross an ugly but they provide them excellent defensive properties against their predators like foxes and dogs.
5. Some facts about hedgehogs may seem very weird to you like this one. When they are threatened or feel any kind of danger from their surroundings, they curl up into a ball so that they can protect their stomach which can easily get damaged.
6. They have quills on their body almost 5000 in number. Each quill has a lifespan of 1 year and after one year it sheds from the body like hair fall and a new quill grows out from the same place.
7. Their quills are weightless and are hollow from inside. They get erected by some muscles placed beneath the quill. The quill is attached to a small ball below the surface of the hedgehog. This ball bends for erection.
8. They have a very strange habit as well. More of the strange facts about hedgehogs. When they are stimulated by a strong smell or aroma. They show a curious behavior which is they cover their horns or quills with a thick coat of saliva. Nobody knows about this behavior.
9. If they are not cleaned properly, they may develop 500 fleas. However, the flea which is specific to hedgehogs does not bite humans. To see if hedgehogs produce a scent or musk you can check my previous article  Do hedgehogs smell?
10. They have very weak eyesight. Therefore, they primarily depend upon the sense of hearing and smell. But their eyes are adapted for night time vision because they are nocturnal animals.
11. Hedgehogs lend you a great while gardening because their diet involves all of the pests which we want to get rid of.
12. Hedgehogs are shy animals. They don’t prefer to be in groups or travel in groups. You will rarely see them in groups when they are near to the season of mating.
13. One of the interesting facts about hedgehogs is that a female hedgehog can bring one to eleven hedgehogs during birth
14. Their mothers take care of them for about seventeen weeks then they are on their own.
15. Male hedgehogs can prey upon baby hedgehogs.
16. If a baby tends to disturb the family or nest, it is observed that female hedgehogs eat their babies in these situations.
17. Sometimes mothers also move some of their babies to a new nest. Baby hedgehogs are not properly developed when they are born. They are born with a soft spine and bones and they are also blind. Wow! This is the strangest thing about the facts of hedgehogs.
18. After 32- 33 days they properly get developed.
19. Because they are mammals they rely on their mother’s milk until they are able to hunt.
20. Right after their birth, the mother takes the babies for their first hunting practices and after seven weeks she leaves them to hunt and live on their own.
21. European hedgehogs hibernate in winters. Therefore, they eat as much as they can in the autumn season and build their nest in which they can hibernate.

13 hedgehogs facts for kids

1. The scientific name for the hedgehogs is Erinaceaus.
2. They are mammals.
3. They live a life of about seven years.
4. They can weigh up to 1 or 2 kgs.
5. They are not so long. Their body length ranges from 14 – 30 cm.
6. Their habitat includes grasslands, meadows, gardens, and woodlands.
7. They are not herbivores. They are carnivores however require a few ola t diets as well.
8. They are famous due to their thorns or quills. They have these all over their body except on their face, legs, and belly.
9. They protect themselves from any kind of threat by curling themselves into a form of a ball, pointing their horns outside.
10. Their tail can be of six centimeters in length.
11. They love to eat insects. Insects are on the top of their diet list. Then come the mice and small snakes, lizards, frogs, eggs and snails, etc.
12. They are not actively seen in the day. However, they come out sometimes in the day as well particularly right after the rains.
13. Mostly these creatures stay on the ground. But that doesn’t mean they cannot swim or climb. They are excellent swimmers and climbers as well.

Facts about hedgehogs diet

1. According to National geographic hedgehogs are named on the method of their eating.
2. When they sneak through holes and hedges in search of food they grunt like a pig hence called hedgehog.
3. Their ford includes insects, fungi, snails, snakes, mice, small snakes, and many more species of insects. They love to eat insects.
4. It is known that hedgehogs can eat up to a quarter of the weight of their body only in 1 night.