Since hedgehogs, for obvious reasons, do not know how to speak, they express their emotions with the help of sounds and gestures.
Let's analyze what sounds and gestures hedgehogs can produce.
Sounds:
Sometimes hedgehogs can snore in their sleep, but this is completely normal. Also, like other animals, they can make various sounds while they sleep.
Gestures:
There is one peculiarity in the behavior of hedgehogs: they throw saliva.
If the hedgehog sniffs what he likes, or some new unfamiliar smell, he will begin to secrete saliva very abundantly, and then throw it on his shoulders and back. In an attempt to throw the maximum amount of foam on their bodies, some individuals can twist and twist their bodies into the most incredible positions. For many hedgehogs, this activity is so fascinating that they completely forget about everything that happens around them.
However, the nature of this behavior of hedgehogs is still not clear; it is known that this is most often observed in males than in females. One of the possible reasons is that hedgehogs are trying to remember some kind of smell, and for this they mix it with saliva and throw it on the thorns. Another explanation says that the saliva of hedgehogs works as a toxin or as a deterrent for enemies. Regardless of the reasons for throwing foam, this process is absolutely natural and normal, and should not cause cause for concern.
But the reasons for such a phenomenon as running in a circle have not yet been established. Sometimes hedgehogs start to run frantically in a circle, and you should not worry when you see this. Some owners of hedgehogs believe that this is due to the fact that hedgehogs do not have enough space, but this opinion is erroneous, since in nature hedgehogs also periodically run in circles.
Hedgehogs tend to wake up and stay awake at any time of the day, however, the greatest activity in these animals is observed after sunset, and remains almost until dawn. If, due to your lifestyle, you cannot communicate with the hedgehog at night, then try to carefully change his life rhythm. If you do everything right, the hedgehog will stay awake during the day and sleep at night. However, breaking the natural rhythms can play a cruel joke on your pet.
Each hedgehog has an individual behavioral line. They can be classified into the following:
If your pet's character is not the most friendly, then this does not mean at all that with the proper patience and attention on your part, nothing will change. Of course, hedgehogs often have mixed characters, they can be quite loving one day, and the next they can be aggressive and angry. In this case, only constant observation of the animal, as well as love for it, can help.
The biting hedgehog is definitely a problem and a similar problem can be developed into a habit, which should not be allowed.
It is important to distinguish between when the hedgehog wants to bite you and when to lick you.
If you feel a threat of a bite, try not to pull your hands to the hedgehog, change their position.
Strong odors can provoke a bite - the smell of food, cosmetics, etc., so you should make sure that your hands do not have any foreign odors.
Also, you should not stick your fingers into the cage with the animal and, moreover, tease him.
What to do if a hedgehog is bitten?
You can take it gently by the scruff of the neck, you can blow it into the face, spray it with water, if the bite occurs while swimming, poke it through your teeth.
Young individuals usually bite more often than adults, they explore everything and try to taste it.
Most often we think that we perfectly understand our favorites, but sometimes it seems that they deliberately drive us crazy, and with the most innocent expression of a pretty face.
Why do cats drink water from anywhere other than their own bowl?
Because they are afraid of poisoning. The cat laps up tea and compote from cups forgotten on the table, catches drops from the tap and even tries the water from the toilet, stubbornly ignoring the one that was prepared especially for her not out of harm and stubbornness. For millions of years in the wild, food for a cat has been animals killed by it or someone else. The cat could not know how long the carcass she found lay here and whether the microbes that had multiplied in it had gotten into the nearest body of water. Therefore, the predators never drank water in the place where they dined.
Why do hedgehogs stomp at night?
Hedgehogs are nocturnal animals and sleep most of the day, emerging from hiding places only at dusk. In the wild, animals spend their nights in search of food: slugs, snails, worms, beetles, millipedes, insect larvae, and even mice and frogs. Despite the fact that the owners of domestic hedgehogs leave food for them, the animals still try to find prey in the closet, behind the sofa, under the sink and in other secluded places. Hunting instincts and biological rhythms make hedgehogs wake up at night and rummage through the house even when they are not hungry. Due to the peculiarities of gait and long claws, hedgehogs wandering around the house are really accompanied by a stomp.
Why do cats overturn everything?
Certainly not because of clumsiness. Cats are very wary predators and have amazing coordination. If your cat drops a cup of coffee on your keyboard, it may be sick or nervous, or wants to draw your attention to an issue of concern, or is trying to remind you to buy a new laptop. Cats are very nervous creatures, anything can throw them out of balance, so solving the problem of pseudo-awkwardness is not an easy task. Punishing the cat in this case is only to aggravate the situation. The only way out is to give your pet more living space. The possibility of solitude has a pacifying effect on the furry brat and usually reduces the degree of their madness.
Why do dogs chase cats?
Out of habit. In nature, the relationship between predatory mammals is always tense: the strong tries to destroy the weak. The tiger will never miss an opportunity to kill a wolf or a brood of cubs. Wolves destroy lynxes, foxes, raccoon dogs, coyotes at an opportunity; hyenas and hyena dogs attack cubs of lions, leopards and cheetahs. Apparently, the attitude of dogs to cats is a legacy of this enmity.
Why do parrots speak?
Because they can. Recent studies show that parrots are indeed smarter than most birds, and their ability to reproduce human speech is associated with a special brain structure. By comparing the activity of genes in different types of nerve cells in parrots and songbirds, neurophysiologists found an unusual region in their brains that is absent in other species of birds.
It turns out that the brains of songbirds and parrots contain so-called learning nuclei that help birds memorize and reproduce sounds. Genetic analysis showed that these "nuclei" in the brain of parrots are arranged in a completely different way - they are surrounded by a multilayer shell, consisting of neurons. The thicker this shell, the higher the parrot's ability to memorize words and cope with the reproduction of sounds.
Why do dogs tilt their heads when they listen to you?
Most likely from diligence. There are several theories as to why dogs regularly do these touchingly most bipedal movements, looking you straight in the eye with concentration and seriousness. However, it is likely that the tilt of the head really helps them understand what is going on. Dogs read body language perfectly and understand perfectly well that the owner is talking to them and wait for specific signals indicating what exactly you mean, and tilt their head in order to hear better.
Why do cats meow and dogs bark?
Only for you. Cats never meow when communicating with each other, and wolves - the closest relatives of dogs - do not know how to bark, at least in adulthood.
In different situations, animals bark in a special way: the sounds when meeting a stranger were different from those that dogs make, say, during a game or when communicating with their own kind. Moreover, it turned out that humans are able to distinguish the barking that dogs make in different situations. In addition, the acoustic structure of barking in dogs is very similar, unlike the structure of any other sounds they make. Most likely, the unusual acoustic uniformity of barking clearly indicates its adaptive meaning: barking is intended primarily for the human ear, therefore, it should be simple and understandable. And the sounds that the dogs have left "for themselves" can be noticeably different, since they do not affect the main thing for a dog - communication with a person.
With cats, the situation is very similar - they meow in order to be heard by humans.
Why do dogs spin around before going to bed?
Wolves and other wild dogs are circling around the site they are going to lie down in for two reasons. Firstly, to crush the grass, and secondly, so that the snakes and other creatures hidden in it have time to leave the territory. This behavior does not make much sense in modern domestic dogs, but, as often happens, instinct is stronger.
Why do cats love boxes?
This is a shelter or an ambush for them. For a small solitary predator - namely, they were the ancestors of domestic cats - any cavity of small size is of interest. It can contain prey, but the main thing is that it can be used as a safe shelter for sleeping, resting, creating a den for kittens, as well as a hidden observation post or an ambush place. Cats are also attracted to cardboard boxes and wooden crates because they are warm.
They live next door to people, we hear about them relatively rarely. This is because this nocturnal tramp perfectly hides from human eyes in the light of day. Usually the hedgehog goes out to hunt for insects in the evening and at night. Before hibernating, it must accumulate a thick layer of fat in the fall. To spend the winter, a young hedgehog must weigh at least 500 grams.
Hedgehogs are one of the oldest mammals on earth. There are 16 different types of real hedgehogs in total. Two of these are common in Central Europe: white-breasted hedgehog more common in the eastern part of the continent, including Russia, and common, or European, hedgehog.
In the evening and at night, this midget (maximum 30 centimeters in length) is surprisingly active: males go 2-3 kilometers in search of food (the search area can reach 100 hectares), females are limited to a third of this area. Males meet with females only during the mating season - from spring to mid-summer. The mother takes care of the offspring, but before the onset of cold weather, the cubs should already be on their paws.
1. Nose and ears are the most important organs for nocturnal mammals. Hedgehogs do not see very well, but the sense of smell and hearing are extremely developed.
2. Needles hedgehogs were originally wool. From the inside, they are hollow, reaching a length of 2 to 3 centimeters. They are completely renewed during the year.
3. Sensing danger, hedgehogs take a defensive posture - curl up into a ball and bristle with needles ( there may be about 8 thousand of them).
4.During hibernation the hedgehog also curls up into a ball to better defend against enemies.
5. On the legs there are strong sharp claws, hedgehogs need them for food.
7. Small spicy incisors and canines allow the hedgehog to bite through even the hard chitinous shells of beetles. Sometimes he feasts on carrion, eggs, etc.
8. Cubs are born after about 35 days of pregnancy. Average brood size is 4-5 babies. Newborns have about a hundred spines, and their eyes and ears are closed for the first two weeks. The mother feeds them for six weeks, but after three and a half, she lets them out of the nest so that they look for food on their own.
9. Swimming- not the hedgehog's favorite pastime. But, if necessary, he can cross a small river and get ashore.
10. Needle animals perfectly tolerate the harsh winter in hibernation. An adult male in the fall can weigh good 1.5 kg.
11. For hibernation hedgehog needs warm, weatherproof nest... He looks for openings in roots, bushes, and other places to fill them with autumn foliage. Finally, he wraps himself in foliage in such a way that it forms a kind of protective layer around him. 
Animals willingly occupy the corners already available in the garden: heaps of brushwood, openings in piles of stones and woodpiles, or containers laid on one side like flower pots and baskets... In spring and summer, the hedgehog builds several nests at once on its site, only slightly filling them with straw and foliage. A hibernation nest, on the other hand, must be well protected from the cold. After all, he will have to spend about five months in it without a break, significantly slowing down his metabolism for this time.
12. To natural enemies This thorny animal includes nocturnal birds (for example, the owl) and predatory mammals: the fox, badger and marten. Stray dogs and cats can also be a problem for him. But the most dangerous for the hedgehog is a busy road and a cleared area without old trees and groves. Gardeners can remedy the situation by creating comfortable living conditions for our beneficial thorny neighbors. A hedge or fence about 10 centimeters high will help, so as not to interfere with the movement of the hedgehog. This will give the needle mammal the freedom it needs.
Since most hedgehogs are born in late summer, there is not much time left for them to accumulate fat reserves before the onset of winter. Therefore, it is extremely important that comfortable conditions are created for them in the fall. You can find out more about how to create these conditions on your site from No. 4 of the “Country. Style and way of life ".
Facts and myths about hedgehogs
We know everything about hedgehogs since childhood: they carry mushrooms and apples on thorns to eat in a hungry winter, they love milk very much, do not drown in water and are friends with a bear cub. And we are wrong in everything (except, perhaps, the last one)!
Hedgehogs don't like dating a person. They are nocturnal in the forests of Europe, Asia and even Africa. Therefore, people invented their own hedgehogs, guided by fantasy and speculation. And here's what happened.
ZOOSPORT
Hedgehog (Erinaceus europaeus)
Class - mammals
Detachment - insectivores
Family - hedgehogs
Genus - common hedgehogs
The common, or European, hedgehog is a small animal. The body length rarely exceeds 30 cm, and the weight is 800 g. The hedgehog has to constantly eat: the weight of insects and small vertebrates caught in one night is often equal to the hedgehog's own weight.
Hedgehogs - relatives of porcupines
Not true
Despite the external similarity (which, however, is limited only by the presence of needles), porcupines (Hystricidae) and hedgehogs (Erinaceus europaeus) are quite far apart from each other on the phylogenetic tree. Porcupines are one of the families of the order of rodents, and hedgehogs belong to the order of insectivores, and their closest relatives are moles and shrews. Unlike herbivorous porcupines, hedgehogs eat everything, and they prefer animal prey.
They can shoot with needles
Not true
Hedgehog needles are modified hair. The spines are made of keratin, they are hollow inside and are reinforced with transverse septa. Thanks to this structure, the light needles are very strong - a hedgehog curled up in a ball can remain unharmed, having fallen from a height of several meters.
A bundle of muscles fits to each needle, which lifts it at the slightest danger. But a hedgehog cannot shoot a thorn, just as a person is not able to pull off hair without the help of his hands. The needles themselves fall off about once every 18 months, but not all together, but one at a time. Therefore, hedgehogs are never left without protection.
Hedgehogs are dragging mushrooms and apples into the hole on pins
Not true
The love of hedgehogs to collect and prick mushrooms and apples on thorns is the most common legend, which is replicated in millions of children's books. This belief is almost 2000 years old: for the first time, the ancient Roman scientist and writer Pliny the Elder mentions a funny feature of hedgehogs in his Natural History.
The error of the ancient scholar was later shared by Charles Darwin, who believed the report of one of his correspondents. In fact, hedgehogs feed on insects as well as small mammals. From plants, animals only eat rotten fruits, but they don't even carry them anywhere. For the winter, hedgehogs hibernate, so they do not need to stock up - animals accumulate nutrients in the form of fat.
Hedgehogs love milk
Partly true
To lure the animals, the owners of country houses leave a saucer of milk on the porch. Indeed, hedgehogs often drink it, but then they feel very bad. Like most mammals, these animals only feed on milk when they are young. In adults, the enzyme that is necessary for the breakdown of lactose - milk sugar - ceases to be produced.
Undigested lactose enters the large intestine and is eaten by the bacteria living there. This process is accompanied by the release of gases, which provoke bloating and other unpleasant symptoms.
In addition, milk sugar pulls water over itself, leading to diarrhea. So, having drunk the milk left with the best intentions, the hedgehogs will suffer for a long time, and in severe cases they can die.
They live a very long time
Not true
In the wild, the lifespan of large species of hedgehogs ranges from 4 to 7 years, small ones - from 2 to 4. In captivity, pets delight their owners longer: large species - up to 10 years, small ones - about 4-7 years. The numbers are not very impressive, but for a small animal it is quite a lot. Although scientists cannot unequivocally say which features of living things affect longevity, the correlation between body size and life expectancy is beyond doubt. Large creatures, on average, live longer than small ones.
Most often, hedgehogs die of hunger during hibernation. In addition, they have natural enemies that can eat the animal, despite the needles. The main killers of hedgehogs are raccoons and foxes, as well as large birds of prey such as owls and golden eagles. Cats and dogs can also attack hedgehogs, especially when intruders eat food left by their owners in a bowl.
From the heat they throw themselves under the wheels
Not true
Hedgehogs have no suicidal tendencies, although many animals end their days on the road. Hedgehogs strive to crawl the highway for a reason. Highways and country roads divide animal habitats into too small fragments. Using radio beacons, scientists have found that in the wild, animals cover more than a kilometer per night, and the average range of one hedgehog can exceed 20 hectares.
In addition, the constant crossing of relatives leads to the degeneration of the population, since genetic abnormalities accumulate in it. Trying to miss their neighbors, hedgehogs crawl out onto the highway, and the result of such travels is often sad.
In 2006, environmentalists calculated that at least 15,000 hedgehogs die under wheels every 12 months in Great Britain alone. Dutch experts, in turn, concluded that if no additional protection appears along the highway or they are not equipped with underground tunnels, then very soon the Netherlands will miss a third of the hedgehogs.
Stomp at night
Truth
Hedgehogs are nocturnal animals and sleep most of the day, emerging from hiding places only at dusk. In the wild, animals spend their nights in search of food: slugs, snails, worms, beetles, millipedes, insect larvae, and even mice and frogs. Despite the fact that the owners of domestic hedgehogs leave food for them, the animals still try to find prey in the closet, behind the sofa, under the sink and in other secluded places.
Hunting instincts and biological rhythms make hedgehogs wake up at night and rummage through the house even when they are not hungry. Due to the peculiarities of gait and long claws, hedgehogs wandering around the house are really accompanied by a stomp.
Do not drown in water
Partly true
European hedgehogs swim well, although sometimes they cannot get out of the lake with steep shores. The animals have mastered water movement in order to survive among the rivers, lakes and swamps of Eurasia. But African hedgehogs cannot swim and, falling into a pond or a barrel of water, will inevitably die.
They are immune to snake venom.
Partly true
Unlike mongooses, which are completely immune to snake venom, hedgehogs - great snake hunters - are only partially resistant to it. The protein erinacin protects against the damaging effects of animals, but if the snake manages to bite the hedgehog several times, the fight may end not in favor of the animal.
The main salvation of a hedgehog is needles. The aggressor provokes the snake to attack and, when it rushes, exposes sharp thorns. When the punctured enemy is exhausted, the hedgehog jumps on top of the snake and gnaws at its back.
Love beer
Truth
To get rid of slugs, summer residents set up beer traps - they bury a container with beer in the ground, and then collect pests that have crawled to the bait. Hedgehogs also love to drink - like many other animals, they like the taste of the drink. And like all drinkers, the animals get drunk and may even fall asleep next to the trap. If the hedgehog drinks too much, then alcohol will be poisoned with all the accompanying symptoms.
Are teeming with fleas
Can predict the weather
Not true
Every year on February 2, Canadians and Americans lure marmots out of their burrows to see if the animals see their shadows. The inhabitants of the New World borrowed this custom to determine what the spring will be like from the ancient Romans, who also tortured hedgehogs. For several millennia, the forecast accuracy has not changed and, as in the well-known anecdote, is 50%: either guesses or does not
Daria Zelenaya
Magazine "Around the World" 2014
If you want to put this article on your website or blog, then this is allowed only if there is an active and indexed backlink to the source.
