Hedgehog is the general name of hedgehog subfamily of Hedgehog family in Insectivora. It's also known as thorn ball. But why do hedgehogs have so many thorns? Let's introduce why hedgehogs grow thorns. I hope it will help you. Hedgehog's hard spines are their magic weapon. Acupuncture is a variation of hair, very sharp, not comfortable to touch.
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The reason why hedgehogs grow thorns
Hedgehog's hard spines are their magic weapon. Acupuncture is a variation of hair, very sharp, not comfortable to touch. An adult hedgehog has about 5000 spines. With the growth of hedgehogs, the spines on their backs keep increasing to maintain a certain density. Therefore, a giant hedgehog can have up to 7000-8000 spines. This part of the abdomen is full of soft hair. When they curl up, they contract the muscles of the whole body, pull the head and tail together, and shrink into a ball, so that the enemy can't get down. This is the hedgehog's most effective defense.
Life habits of Hedgehog
Hedgehogs are slow-moving and usually come out at night. Hedgehogs dig holes as nests. They hide in nests during the day and come out at dusk. They like to snore. [3] Hedgehogs are omnivores, and their food includes insects and their larvae, snails, bird eggs, mushrooms, grass roots, nuts, melons and snakes. It can eat 200 grams of insects in one night, and the average mature hedgehog eats 40 grams of food per meal. Hedgehogs are sensitive to lactose and should not be fed dairy products.
Hedgehogs can't regulate their body temperature stably and keep it at the same level, so they hibernate in winter. In winter, when the temperature drops to 12 ℃, hedgehogs don't hibernate. In order to expel the severe cold, they still keep their body temperature by eating more. When the temperature dropped to 7 ℃, the hedgehog went into hibernation. The upper limit of ambient temperature for hedgehogs to sleep is about 27 ℃. When the hedgehog hibernates in the nest, its body temperature drops to 6 ℃. In this case, the hedgehog is the lowest temperature animal in the world. The respiration of the hedgehog drops from 6-18 times per minute at normal temperature to 1-3 times per minute (28-18 ℃). Sometimes there is a kind of intermittent (paroxysmal) breathing, that is, after a short period of rapid continuous breathing, there is a long pause. At the same time, the blood pressure of hedgehog was also very low, from 113 mmHg to 35 mmHg.
Litter and litter are hedgehog's favorite hibernation places. They use twigs and weeds to build hibernating nests. Sometimes their nests are 50 cm apart. They can also sleep under wooden stairs or in other artificial places. Hedgehog in hibernation will occasionally wake up, but do not eat, and soon fall asleep. Hibernating hedgehogs will starve to death if they wake up too early. The dormancy temperature of hedgehog is about 6-9 ℃ (2-15 ℃).
Growth environment of Hedgehog
Hedgehog is a very isolated animal. It lives in the Bush and can swim. It is timid and easy to be frightened. It likes to be quiet and noisy. It likes to be dark and afraid of light, heat and shock.
Hedgehogs are distributed in the Arabian and Sahara deserts for summer sleeping; Indian hedgehogs can live for 4 to 6 weeks without food and water, and big eared hedgehogs also have hibernation period in India; hedgehogs have the ability to endure the decrease of body temperature and metabolic rate during dormancy period, so as to survive the difficult period of cold, heat or food shortage.
Hedgehogs can resist many kinds of poisons, but they can't resist insecticides. Sometimes they are poisoned by eating insects killed by insecticides. Generally speaking, hedgehogs are far away from human activities and prefer to nest on the edge of wilderness or streams. Once out of the wild environment and kept as a pet by humans, it is equivalent to giving it a 'death notice'.
The main natural enemies of hedgehog are predators such as mink, owl and fox. When it finds that there are some odorous plants in its living environment, hedgehogs will chew the plants and then apply them on their thorns to keep the same smell with the surrounding environment, so as to prevent them from being detected by natural enemies. Sometimes, some poisons may be contaminated on their thorns to resist the enemies attacking them.