The British hedgehog
is vanishing. Since 2000 the number of hedgehogs has halved. To save the
hedgehog, campaigners in Solihull have established a Hedgehog Improvement Area
(The Times, November 28, 2015).
Homes, businesses, and parks are encouraged to cut holes in fences to allow
hedgehogs to roam freely, save rotting logs (instead of burning them) to
provide a source of beetles for food, retaining autumn leaves which are good
for making nests, and avoiding regular lawn-mowing to keep the grass longer for
hedgehogs to hide in. Hedgehogs like scrubby areas, fallen leaves, and unmown
lawns.
About 6-7 years ago the
British Hedgehog Preservation Society realized that they didn’t see as many
hedgehogs as previous years. They are primarily nocturnal and sleep during the
day, so at first it was thought that they were hiding – because they had not
conducted a census of the local sightings. One estimate was that the number of
hedgehogs in Britain had declined from 30 million in 1950 to fewer than a
million today. However, there are no clear theories about the cause of the
decline. Some reasons could be intensive farming, land clearing, the increase
in badger numbers (hedgehog predators), and habitat fragmentation.
In one night a
hedgehog can roam an area the size of an 18-hole golf course. However, habitat
fragmentation – the construction of walls, fences, and roads result in areas of
land being divided or fragmented – which means that hedgehogs face obstacles
when they try to roam. They are then confined to smaller areas.
Hedgehogs need to
roam freely. If hedgehogs can’t roam to find a breeding partner, it may cause in-breeding
within their own colony (called a prickle), which weakens the bloodlines. They
need diversity. That’s why it’s important to have holes in fences and walls to
enable hedgehogs to wander about.
There is also a
national project called Hedgehog Street. The goal is to ask people to make
small changes in their gardens to help hedgehogs by removing barriers to
roaming. People are also encouraged to count the number of hedgehogs in their
garden. Some residents have motion-sensitive infrared cameras to capture
whether the movements are cats, dogs, other animals, or hedgehogs. Some
residents use a plastic tunnel with food inside – the tunnel also has an ink
strip and a sheet of paper to record footprints. A more accurate count of
hedgehogs is needed to determine the progress of hedgehog improvement measures.
Hedgehogs (Erinaceinae)
are mammals and although they look similar to the Australian echidna, we don’t
have hedgehogs. They are found in Europe, Asia, and Africa. They have spikes
(called quills) that act as protection and when attacked they roll into a ball with
the spikes pointing outwards. Most wild hedgehogs hibernate in winter. They
feed on insects, snails, frogs, toads, snakes, bird eggs, mushrooms, carrion,
grass roots, berries, and some fruit. They have 3-4 babies per litter and live
up to 4-7 years.
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