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Hedgehog Facts:
What do hedgehogs look like?
All hedgehogs are similar in how they look and what color they are.
They all have:
Sharp, narrow snouts
Small eyes
Short legs.
They are covered on the back and sides with smooth spines
Males can have up to 500 spines on their backs. The face, legs, tail, and belly are covered with fur. They have a very good sense of smell and hearing.
Behaviors:
hedgehog is a nocturnal animal meaning it sleeps during the day and is awake and active during the night. In the winter months, November to March, it passes into a state of hibernation when it rolls up into a ball in a nest. It will awaken on warm days to feed and drink water.
If the hedgehog
feels threatened, it protects itself by rolling up into a ball - like a pill
bug (rolly polly) and like a porcupine, it is covered on its back with sharp
spines. When it's rolled up, it looks like a prickly ball and what animal
would want to eat a spine-covered ball? Most predators will leave it
alone.
Where to they live and sleep?
In the wild they will sleep either curled in a ball or stretched out. They will sleep under fallen logs and tree roots, under heaps of leaves, among rocks, or in burrows. They prefer a dry place to nest in.
What Does it eat?
The hedgehog is an omnivore
which means it eats both plants and animals, like most people. They eat insects,
mice, frogs, small birds, worms, caterpillars, slugs, and toads, and plants and
fruits. It can also eat small snakes and it really likes eggs! No, not chicken
eggs, but eggs from the nests of birds!
Here is what a real hedgehog looks like
